What Can I Do – I Rent A House

A co-worker of mine is looking for a house to rent and it brought my mind back to the days when I was a landlord. I barely made enough off rent to pay the mortgage and insurance, let alone upgrade or fix anything… but that is a topic that won’t be discussed on this blog. Whether you’re a landlord or a renter, this topic fits both of you.

As a landlord you’re looking at your bottom line, but you may not particularly care if your tenant pays the water bill. You may care if its included in rent.

As a renter, you might pay your water bill and know your usage or be oblivious to it as its covered in your rental agreement. Unfortunately you may be a breed of person that might not know that California is even in a drought. So really anything you do now will help.

Landlord

• Install low flow toilets/shower heads – with rebates from your local water company
• Install faucet aerators, or upgrade the faucets that include aerators
• Upgrade the appliances in the unit that are more water efficient – fridge, washer, water heater
• Install drip irrigation and remove the lawn/install a low maintenance drought tolerant planting
• Change the irrigation controller to one that monitors the weather when watering

Renter

Be mindful of your water usage.

• Turn off the faucet when shaving or brushing your teeth
• Utilize “When its yellow, let it mellow. When its brown, flush it down.” – basically pee can stay, poo must go. 🙂
• Take a shorter shower OR take a “military shower” – turn on water to get wet. Turn off water and lather up. Turn on water to rinse off. Turn off water when done.
• Only run the dishwasher when full
• Only do laundry when you have a full load
• Stop putting coffee grounds, egg shells and food waste down the insinkerator – that grinder thing in the kitchen sink.
• Married or dating? Have some fun and shower together. Be mindful of how long the water is on for. 😉
• Ask your landlord to install more water efficient appliances/faucets/etc. Have them look for the “WaterSense” label on equipment.

We’re all in this together. Any help you can give to reduce your water usage will make things easier in the long term.