Am I obsessed with saving water?

No, you are not peculiar. I admire you for your thriftiness. If money was really tight, I would do as you do, but I can manage to pay for water for my daily bath, which I would hate to give up. However, I do have rain water butts and use washing-up water on the garden, and don't run taps unnecessarily.

What's the yellow/mellow mantra?

Whether you are obsessed or not perhaps depends on your water bill and how much difference all these stratagems make.

We are perhaps fortunate to live in an area where water supply is never a problem. We asked for a water meter (after DDs had moved out ) but we could not have one for some reason which I now can't remember.

If it`s yellow,let it mellow, if it`s brown, flush it down.
My daughter drummed that into me when we had a water meter fitted, on her advice, but although I do try to save water, that one goes against the grain for me, I hate to see an unflushed toiet.

If it's yellow let it mellow , if it's brown flush it down. As seen in loos of " the greens"

Jane, if it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown flush it down regarding a trip to the loo.

I don't mind letting it mellow for our loo but the one downstairs is used by visitors. And, I flush last thing at night whatever the colour!!

We had a water metre after the children had gone but even when they came back it was cheaper!

X posts * number*. It would be interesting to compare bills with the OP. With 2 of us in the house mostly using showers with an occasional bath for me and a garden to water, our monthly bill is £29, this is about a third of our charges if we didn't have a water meter.

I've hardly used water in the water butts this year. We are on a meter but I've fussed about not leaving taps running for teeth cleaning for my own children so I'm assuming they do the same for theirs. I do make sure the machines are full before I turn them on. In Geneva you are not allowed to flush after 10pm I gather but not for saving but for silence.

Er thank you everyone! Yuk!
I agree with you Number re unflushed loos!

Crikey! Our fixed charge with Northumbrian Water is £70 When we first requested a meter and they said we couldn't have one, they reduced our charge to about £30 a month, but it has gradually gone up each year. Time to have another go at them I think.

If it's yellow let it mellow

No! And if left too long eg overnight, it can discolour the toilet seat - bad for the environment to keep discarding them and buying new ones.
(The same goes for coloured toilet cleaner apparently.)

We are reasonably careful but only conserved water as in the OP during very hot summers when there was a drought. We do always save rainwater in two large water butts in the garden.

And if left too long eg overnight, it can discolour the toilet seat

Er...hope you mean the toilet bowl, rose!

(If not, someone in your household requires further training...)

This post has struck a chord with me, because we had a water meter fitted two weeks ago.
I tend to be very 'careful' by nature so resisted having a meter for as long as possible, knowing that I was likely to become obsessed with saving water.
Two weeks on, I could have written the OP myself!
No way can I bring myself to waste the 5 litres of cold water that have to be run off before the hot water reaches the tap. Not that I use the hot tap at all if it's just for ordinary hand-washing, because I can't see the sense in paying to heat water that won't reach the tap before I've finished!
I'm already wondering if I will be able to capture the shower water somehow in summer for watering the garden

Perhaps it's the ammonia in it that discolours the seat. Like strong toilet cleaner does (fumes).

The underside of the seat.

Goodness - must be strong wee!

Instead of worrying about flushing toilets I would suggest a lot more water and money could be saved by not over filling baths, limiting the amount of water when showering and say not washing towels every day as many hotels try to get people to do.

Not running the taps too much. I never water my lawn but I do have to water my plant pots. We also have a water meter since the children left home.

Er...hope you mean the toilet bowl, rose!
jings is right!
Goodness - must be strong wee!
I think it's the vitamins someone takes .....
if you take vitamins your wee goes very yellow

jings is always right

My water bills would be a lot cheaper if I had a meter but I know that I would become obsessed saving water. Another problem is that if there is ever a problem here it is always water related and eg emptying the tank for whatever reason would not make me very happy. I am careful but I will stick with my unmetered water bill.

I, living on my own, should not have to pay the same amount for water as a family of around 7 living a few doors away.

Of course, it could have been from the toilet gel I left down there for ages before scrubbing it off again later in the day

Charleygirl a family of five we know (who are very clean!!) found that their water bill went down considerably when they had a meter fitted. You have twelve months in which to change your mind usually, but you can only change once. The water bill is related to the council tax bill for some reason. The Water Board couldn't fit one for us so adjusted our water bill accordingly; it is about half what we used to pay.

I have a water meter and have quite low bills without having to resort to extreme methods. However, I never water the garden. I don't have flowers in pots but herbs and plants which are drought resistant. I certainly don't wash my clothes after each wearing - apart from undies and socks - and I use an economy programme on the dishwasher which takes a surprisingly small amount of water to do the job. I usually have a shower but have a long soak in the bath if I feel like it.

We inherited the water meter when we moved into this house, and I must admit that I was absolutely obsessive for the first couple of years, but I'm a bit more relaxed about it now. The only time we used to run the bath was when GS came to stay but he now he's older he prefers a shower, but he spends so long in there daydreaming sometimes you might as well have run a bath!! We use a water butt for the garden, and DH never uses the hose for washing the car these days, which he always used to do. A meter definitely saves us money.

The general rule is :More people in household than bedrooms, pay rates. More bedrooms than people have a meter.