18. Save water and money
Saving water in the bathroom, kitchen and garden will reduce the amount of your bill and will take care of our planet. We all know that water is a precious commodity that cannot be renounced. Water is bearer of life and must be protected and therefore spared.
Saving water is crucial to avoid to waste it, because it is not an inexhaustible commodity as we might think, especially with the whole climate change situation. So it is important to learn how to reduce waste with small daily gestures.
Italy is one of the largest water consumers in the world, according to statistics. Each of us consumes on average 215 liters of water per day, against the 2.5 that represent the quantity necessary for life. We must keep in mind that there are 1.4 billion people who do not have enough drinking water, without counting the billion that does not have safe water available and the 3.4 million of people who die because of diseases due to non-drinking water. In particular, water is used for: discharge of baths, 8 liters approximately (28% of the consumption); personal hygiene such as bath, shower, teeth, hands (23%); washing clothes, crockery and linen (14%); watering plants (14%); cooking (13%) and finally losses of hydraulic systems (8%). We waste so 78,475 liters, paying an average bill of €420 per year. Prices are different depending on the region, Tuscany is the one where the water costs more, while Molise is the cheapest region.
So how can we make this expense less heavy? What are the actions you can put into practice to save money and save the planet at the same time? Let’s see some trick to apply during the everyday life. The first trick is to close the taps while brushing your teeth or shaving (5 minutes a day), you can save 6 liters of water per minute. Often we do not realize it, but since it flows out quickly the water goes away in a moment.
Even if we are used to bathing it would be better to prefer the shower and decrease the time of stay. Every minute you consume between 6 and 10 liters of water (10 minutes a day). Installing then ventilated taps you would cut the consumption half. A small addition would be to collect the water from the shower in a basin, while waiting for the hot water to escape, then use it to unload the toilet.
If we have water leaks from the taps, then we should fix them. Leaking faucets cost 21,000 liters a year. An exorbitant amount of water that without realizing it is thrown away in the void. As we said some advice ago, it would be better to use the dishwasher and the washing machine fully loaded. This foresight will save about 8200 liters of water per year.
When we have to thaw food, it would be better to do it in a basin, leave them under running water would waste 6 liters per minute (5 minutes per day). Maybe it’s not a daily action, but it affects our final bill.
Finally checking the water meter would be ideal to monitor our consumption, writing it down so that we can compare it with the bill.
But let’s see all this turned into money.
Considering the advice listed above we could get to save about 59,000 liters of water per year, then consuming 19,170 liters. This will significantly drop the cost of our annual bill, paying just about €96.
The math should of course be done for each individual or household, as the bill changes for each user as well as for each region. Here the math was made on an average of costs recorded during national surveys, which allow to calculate the approximate figures. So, prices don’t relate to every single consumer.
The advice is to monitor water consumption, before starting to save and after, to understand what the actual savings are. Let’s not forget to add it all to our Excel table.
THIS ADVICE WILL
ALLOW YOU TO SAVE ABOUT €320 PER YEAR.
19. Save your money buying used school books
Every year in September schools reopen and the university courses start again, and in this period both parents and pupils looks for school supplies and especially textbooks. The latter are a really exaggerated expense and the wallet pours tears throughout the purchase period. A statistic, made by Italian Federconsumatori estimated an average cost of €460 to a pupil who attends middle and high schools, while, according to another survey, a university student spends on average €400 the year to buy textbooks.
Save money however is possible, using different ways instead of the classic stationery or bookstore, for example buying used books in markets, usually specialized markets are held every year in big cities between September and October. It is true that the market today are less diffused than in past years, but this happened only because technology is overcoming more and more borders, even, and perhaps above all, in publishing. This e-book is the example. Despite this, there are several ways to save money and you just have to do some foresight and know how to use well the Web.
According to a survey from Skuola.net, most Italian families (64%) prefer to buy new textbooks, because the books are often updated and then you should still add extra information, but also because used books are underlined or perhaps written. However, from the figures we can see that buying new books leads to a major expense that could be definitely halved.
So, if we do not love to buy used books, we could opt to buy them online or in our preferred supermarket. Books online stores in recent years are catching on thanks to the convenience of receiving books directly at home and especially because these are discounted on the cover prices, discounts that are not applied in library.
The easiest platform where is possible to buy textbooks is definitely Amazon, which as we well know is the number one e-commerce. Buying schoolbooks on Amazon is very easy, just go to the “Back to school” section or simply enter the title or author in the search area. This also applies to university books, often discounted or at significantly lower prices. If you make a wrong order Amazon allows you to send back the goods and send you a voucher in return, so you can repeat the operation. In addition, the section “Back to School” allows you to access the list of schoolbooks that you need without having to enter directly the title of the books. Finally, if the amount is greater than €60, you are entitled to a discount coupon in the school sector. Going back to used books, if you do not have time to go around markets, you can take a look to Libraccio.it, an e-commerce specialized in the sale of second-hand books, chosen specifically for their quality. So, these will not have missing covers or pages, they of course have signs of wear, underscores and notes but will be suitable to be used again. On the site you can also buy new books and in case take advantage of discounts that e-commerce makes available for new customers.
Speaking about those who are unfamiliar with computers or online buying, or maybe those who do not trust much these new technologies. In this case we can go to big malls or supermarkets like Carrefour, Coop, Auchan, Conad, Esselunga, Simply and Pam Panorama and ask to buy the schoolbooks. By doing so we will get books at discounted prices and coupons to use in the store on all school supplies.
Buying books Online or in a supermarket you can save from 15 to 20% on the expense that we usually do every year, spending on average €380 instead of €460. If we buy the textbooks online, it is worth noting that we would also save on the gasoline that we will need to move from home and on time.
THIS ADVICE WILL
ALLOW YOU TO SAVE FROM €70 TO €100 PER YEAR.
