Just got our first daily water use info for our water meter

[Motnight]

It's 1180 litres. I am gobsmacked.

3 bedroomed house. 2 of us living here permanently, occasional visits from a 3rd person! Both working mostly at home. Around 10 loads of washing a week, dishwasher used once a day. 2 showers and 1 bath a day (bath is deep). Bath is taken by husband who has a life long illness which leaves him in lots of physical pain, which is helped by a bath.

Is this normal? The useful info provided says that a typical 2 person household should use around 270 metres a day. Do we have a leak or are we just using appalling amounts of water? If the latter, any tips on reducing this? Thankyou.

10 loads is madness!

We have 2 adults and 2 dc and do
1 x uniform
1 x swimming kit
1 x bedding (one bed one week, both kids beds the following week)
4 x clothes and towels (yes inc tea towels, skank alert no doubt)

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

So youvwaah uniform shirts with trousers and jumpers?

@RegardingMary ok I can see now how it adds up, especially with your work uniforms. But you wash things a lot more often than I do!!

@chesirecat99 I’ve never had a problem! But I’m not talking about stuffing in it until you can barely close the door either!

Just checked mine water bill, we used 81cubic meters in six months which is roughly 414litres a day - 3 bed, 2adults and primary school kid, we do around 7loads of washing a week, but we have garden and lots of flowering baskets which use a lot of water.

@lilao

If you are doing 10 loads of washing a week and using the dishwasher daily then that is the problem.

There is two of us and we only need to put it on every 3-4 days and it's a slimline washer.

Your water company won't be able to help you - you simply need to use less!

She's using triple what I use with three young kids. Def 10 washes a week without qn. Terrible person who keeps leaving the washing up to soak in the sink. Baths and showers. Kids obsessed with taps. Hose pipe in the summer for fun. And still under 400.

@LuckyAmy1986

I swear the washing multiples in the baskets.

We live on land on my parents farm, amazing in many ways but it generally means there's always a child whose nipped up to feed the pigs/milk a goat/ride a horse/ usually in uniform and usually returning home filthy.

The dogs are no better, one in particular seems to have been trained up by the police to find all fox shit within a 5mile radius and has to be bathed multiple times a week.

I think it’s the daily deep baths, the once or twice every single day running the washing machine and daily dishwasher.

If you only wash sheets and towels once a week op, this means you do eight other loads of just clothes each week for the two of you. So four loads of washing each each week, Even washing everything you wear Inc night clothes every single day it wouldn’t account for this

Are you running the washing machine half empty? The same with the dishwasher? Unless you both wear several outfits a day it’s really the only explanation, you take every single item of clothing worn and wash it every single day and run the machine half empty?

I do 21 loads of washing a week for 2 adults and 4 children

That's ludicrous.
Okay, so I have 3dc, not 4, but all very active in terms of hobbies that include mud, and I have never done anywhere near that amount.

I am confused about all the people saying 10 wash loads is a lot. There are often threads on here saying people change towels daily and change bedding after a few days. How can these people ony do 4 washes per week?

Op is DH having a clean towel after every bath and shower, and you every shower? 21 towels would certainly increase the no of load s of washing

@Kite22

It really isn't. Unless you've got a ridiculously huge washing machine and are throwing any old thing in with each other then I don't see how you could do so little.

^How to do laundry for a family of 4 with only 5 loads a week:

1 load of whites
1 load of darks
1 load of coloureds
1 load of towels (washed at 60 - everything else at 30)
1 load of woollens/delicates^

Where's your bed linen in that?

Also DH and I on our own generate enough for one whites/light colours wash a week- at least.

@RebeccaManderley

Tell me about it, it's either all getting squashed in and mixed with everything or people aren't counting properly.

How on earth are 2 of you wearing enough clothing to need 10 loads of washing a week??

Even with 10 loads of washing a week, it still seems high and you should check for a leak, OP.
Family of 4 here, 4 showers most days, dishwasher on every day and a load of washing most days too, and we use less than half what you've quoted.

I knew that this thread would end up being about washing!

Why do you put the dishwasher on every day? There's four of us abs we out it on every other day. Surely yours can't be full with two people every day?

6 of us in our house & 2 dogs. We average about 7-8 loads a week of washing. Dishwasher once a day, showers, occasionally baths. Have to wash the dogs after a walk sometimes. You use more than us. We had very high usage a few years back, it went ridiculously high. We suspected faulty meter as ours is on the roadside, next to a telegraph pole. Telegraph pole was destroyed in an accident and meter damaged. Took a year to sort. Previous house was a shared meter(old property) and we were paying too much and for our some of our neighbours. That also took a while to sort. Maybe worth checking after you check your usage.

10 loads of washing is average for me and 2 x teenage dcs. School uniform, work clothes, bedding, towels, football gear (2 x teams, 2x matches plus training sessions) swimming towels etc. these are all heavy adult clothes ie jeans, coats, jumpers etc so not small light stuff for toddlers. The weight means there’s no way a load would overloaded. It’s relentless

I think somethings wrong op and you have a leak or are paying for someone else's usage too.

I just looked at our last bill and it averages out at 470 litres a day usage. That's a family of 5.

Not many baths but at least 3 showers every day. Kids that leave the taps running. Paddling pool in the summer! Dishwasher x 2 daily. Don't even get me started on washing. We have a bed wetter so have a full bedding load every day just from that. I'd say I do 20 washes a week.

Surely if all of that adds up to 475 litres a week there's no way yours can be nearly treble!

I live alone and do 2 washes I reckon. One bedding/towels and one clothing
But I WFH, and I use my towels for 5-7 days and change bedding once a week

There's 2 of us here and I do bloody loads of washing!
One hot white wash- sheets, my towels, white underwear.
One hot dark wash- towels, dark underwear.
One white and light colours, including my work shirts.
Two dark washes at least for mine and dh's uniforms.
Usually another dark wash for jeans, t shirts, jumpers etc ( and yes I do wear jumpers and jeans more than once).
Add in anything like duvets, occasional coat washing etc and I can see where it all adds up.

And I use towels for a week, it's not like I'm changing them every day.

How much do you pay @Motnight. Think ours is £56 a month for in and out

Still can’t find out how many litres we use

Still don’t know how you wash ten times a week

3 or 4 tops

Darks and towels

whites and bedding

toddlers stuff mainly pink

plus sometimes odd extra if coat dirty etc