If you are as old as me, then you’ll remember Sunday night baths. Everyone had one whether they needed one or not! The rest of the week was consigned to a strip wash! I still wash up and down with a bowl of water, tip the water down the loo and then have a five minute shower every other day. You can see my real water meter below, a cubic meter of water, including the cost of getting it into my house and then disposed of, costs about £5. I am careful with water as even the most meagre use of it costs me £350 a year.
I don’t wear something and then wash it immediately. I will often air it, or put it back in the cupboard or wardrobe and wear it again. The same towels, get put over the bannister and used again and again all week. If you wear something one day after the next, they will know you haven’t washed it, if you wear it a few days later, then they will be none the wiser. I will often ‘spot’ clean a jumper or shirt and put it away. I sniff clothes, if they smell clean and have no marks, they are not dirty!
All hand washing water is used to flush the loo. In the dry summer, it’s used to water the garden, as is shower water. Because I do this, having a bath is a rare treat. I get in and Dearly Beloved has the water after me, of the other way round. For a lot of people my age, that’s normal. I would have a bath and my sister and brother would have my bath water. We had a Rayburn, which heated our kitchen/living room, was a cooker/stove and it heated our water. Once a bath was filled, the water tank would be cold again and the stove would take hours of heating it up. We couldn’t afford the coal to keep it hot, so it was kept on ‘tick over’
I look forward to baths, I relish them and time them to listen to a play or documentary on the radio. I usually have a bath every three weeks or sometimes less frequently.
It may seem the simplest thing, but all that hot water, just for sitting in, is just the most indulgent and wonderful treat. Roll on the next one.
I don’t wear something and then wash it immediately. I will often air it, or put it back in the cupboard or wardrobe and wear it again. The same towels, get put over the bannister and used again and again all week. If you wear something one day after the next, they will know you haven’t washed it, if you wear it a few days later, then they will be none the wiser. I will often ‘spot’ clean a jumper or shirt and put it away. I sniff clothes, if they smell clean and have no marks, they are not dirty!
All hand washing water is used to flush the loo. In the dry summer, it’s used to water the garden, as is shower water. Because I do this, having a bath is a rare treat. I get in and Dearly Beloved has the water after me, of the other way round. For a lot of people my age, that’s normal. I would have a bath and my sister and brother would have my bath water. We had a Rayburn, which heated our kitchen/living room, was a cooker/stove and it heated our water. Once a bath was filled, the water tank would be cold again and the stove would take hours of heating it up. We couldn’t afford the coal to keep it hot, so it was kept on ‘tick over’
I look forward to baths, I relish them and time them to listen to a play or documentary on the radio. I usually have a bath every three weeks or sometimes less frequently.
It may seem the simplest thing, but all that hot water, just for sitting in, is just the most indulgent and wonderful treat. Roll on the next one.
What’s your infrequent and indulgent treat?
Love Froogs xxxx
Advertisements
I cannot believe you have to pay for water. Sorry, I do believe you pay for water, I just find it hard to believe that you have to. Ye gods. I struggle with oil and electric bills, our sewage goes into a septic tank, so we do pay water rates for what comes out of the taps but presumably you are metered then? Gobsmacked.
LikeLike
Although I may not be quite as frugal as you I do believe that clothes are over washed these days. And as for that 'dry clean only' tag….don't get me started.
LikeLike
I am amazed how much of our water bill is simply the 'standing charge'which we have to pay whatever amount of water we use.
Like you I remember the weekly bath - in our house it was Saturday nights, so we were clean for Sunday.
I remember being appalled when I got to Uni and another friend, who was in digs up the road, complained that her landlady said she could not have a bath every day. I didn't know if that meant she was wasteful or I was grubby!!!
weekend blessings, my spotless friend
x x
LikeLike
By my calculations 1 cubic meter of water is about 30 U.S gallons and if you are paying $7.60 for that, that is very expensive.
Would it be less expensive for you to go to the laundramat just to wash your clothes, they have heavy duty machines that hold a lot more, maybe go only once or twice a month.
Very occasionally, maybe once a year, I ll buy a latte at Starbucks; and I put money in the tip jar !
LikeLike
we dont have a shower!
gawd I miss one!
a bath is relaxing, eco unfriendly and takes an age
LikeLike
I remember growing up in a home where we had an outside loo and a coal bunker no heating apart form a coal fire and the only sink was in the Kitchen. in winter we would heat water up in the gas stove and poor it into a blue plastic bath in front of the fire,I would be allowed to wallow in it and sometimes a squirt of fairy washing up liquid would be put in so i could make a foam beard (I was an alternative child)! no too sure what my parents did with the water after. But I used to play out in the streets when I was little(you could then and no one freaked)! so in my big Sisters view the water was toxic and not for sharing I think! lol. the rest of the time was a strip wash at the sink. . Nice nostalgic post froogs thanks.
All the best
Rachel in Plymouth
LikeLike
Hi everyone - we are metered, as unmetered water would cost £1400 a year for a house my size. The sewerage costs are built into the bill and that's what makes it so expensive. As for using a launderette, that costs about £5 per wash!!!! Much cheaper to do it myself. We also have only one water company who supply and take away waste and we have no choice to use it or have no water!
LikeLike
We have cheaper water rates than you and are therefore less careful with water although we do try hard not to waste too much. We do not have a meter because we would have to pay much more for the water if we did - and until a meter is forced on us, we'll do without. We are in an area where the water rates are based on the old council rates and ours were VERY low. We have a very brief shower daily and a treat bath occasionally where, like you, we both use the same water. The second person gets a kettle of boiling water added to make it a comfortable temperature again : )
When growing up, we had a bath Tuesday and Friday and the water was heated up with an electric immersion heater. We had an Aga but it only heated a small tank of water for the kitchen sink.
LikeLike
I have to hold my hands up and admit a bath nearly everyday. However in my defence I have a toddler who needs daily bathing so once she;s been kicked out I add a splash of hot water and hop in after her. Once the bump has arrived there will be three of us sharing each day.
Seems silly to waste it otherwise.
x x x
LikeLike
Like you Froogs I love a deep hot bath - there isnt anything else like it but I have cut these down. Im not metered as I know I would be worse off as I have a little boy who loves playing with water so is always filling a sink up somewhere in the house to play with his toys in. I come under North West water and have a budget card and pop £5 on a week and for the last 8 years I havent had a bill to pay, Ive been in credit with them for all that time x
LikeLike
I thinks people today generally wash their clothes too much. I used to wear the same things to work for a few days when I was younger and they got washed at the end of the week. I would change a blouse during the week. Nowadays, it seems that people say “Oh I JUST throw it in the washer”! without realising how wasteful they are, but really, they don't care how wasteful they are. It is the same as those silly parents who are always telling you that their child is spoilt. What the …… they are the ones that have done that for heaven's sake!
It is also not at all necessary to shower every day, a good wash in the right regions is quite sufficient. I don't ever remember my Gran having a bath, and yet she was fashionable, and always smelt sweetly and that was not artificial.
LikeLike
My water is by meter which makes me very careful with it. We have had solid rain for two days and more to come. I cannot believe we are in a drought situation in certain parts of the country. If I wished for something it would be a copy of Gardeners World each month but I cannot justify £3.80 per copy. One day the assistant in WH Smith will charge me for reading the magazine and then walking out of the shop without buying one.
Great blog as usual.
Dianne - Hereford
LikeLike
Our water has been metered for the longest time and is becoming quite expensive. With five of us we have to watch the consumption. I become quite angry when the girls lecture me on being green and then shower forever. We have a gauge on our shower head. A normal shower shower for me is about 12 litres. When I wash my hair it is about 40. It is hot and humid in our part of Oz so a daily shower happens.
LikeLike
We pay for the water by the cubic metre, pay to dispose of it, pay for it to be delivered.
Don't start me on the “delivery” fees on our electric and natural gas. These fees are more than what I pay for the actual fuel.
Oh, and I live in a region that produces it all. It's cheaper to gas/petrol in the US than right here.
Luxery? A good Chanel lipstick every few years. Hey, they last forever
LikeLike
We pay for water in, water out, etc. I've given up on trying to convince my family that 10 minute showers aren't necessary. (Even dh…lol)
My indulgence with the household “stuff” is using the dishwasher. We've lived in places both with and without and I'm willing to cut else where to be able to run the dishwasher.
LikeLike
I'm appalled by your water charges - I pay £263.12 a year, this is tied to my council tax band (which is quite high, I have a 3 bedroomed house and this is Edinburgh) We don't have meters. But we do get quite a lot of rain!
LikeLike
I live in the US and most people pay for their water and sewage in one bill monthly unless you are like us and have a well for water so we only pay for sewage. Our well is very deep and we've never run out of water.
I grew up in the 40's, 50's, and 60's and daily showers or baths were not on my parents allowance, although clothes washing was. I never wore anything more than once. My mother was very particular about our clothes. However, sheets and towels were washed once a week.
When I grew up and got on my own and paid my own bills, I wanted a shower/bath every day….and still do…with clean clothes!
LikeLike
P.S forgot to say we are on a water meter now as we live in a new build, makes me nervous to flush the loo each time and i try not to do laundry every day but its hard as I have a partner who is long term sick. our water bull is nearly £60 per month and believe me I am very tight with it, makes me silently weep. Its so frustrating not to be able to shop around for a water provider.
all the best
Rachel in Plymouth
LikeLike