[LuxLiving]

Just wanted to give a heads up to those of you on rural water that might have been in the ice storm areas. We were and I just got off the phone with my rural water district office. They estimated our bill because they could not get to the water meter with all of the ice covering the roadway. You might have a similar situation.

Guess which direction they estimated? You're right...they estimated high. I phoned the office because there was nothing on the bill that stated if they'd be crediting us next month if our usage was lower. She did say that they would be issuing credits if your usage wasn't estimated correctly.

During the course of the conversation I did ask her what the average usage per person was in our area, and it's 3000 gallons per adult person per month. So, overall we with four adult folks at home aren't doing too shabbily at 5000 gallons for the house, but I still think it's too much!

Our water bills have gone way up anyway and I've been working and working on getting them lower. She did mention that when each of her sons moved away from home the bill went down by about 3000 gallons each time! Next thing I know they'll be owing me money each month - heheee!! (kidding) I told her I already feel like I can't afford to wash my hands after going to the restroom and that I can't imagine what life is like for widows and others on tighter budgets!!

I asked her for tips - she runs her own dishwasher once every other day (just two at home) and she now bathes instead of showering in a 1/2 full tub, does laundry once per week. Okay, so I'm going to cut my laundry down to doing a BIG load every two TO three days and see if I can stand it. CashHappy works in a place where he comes home smelling of grease and FrugalSon works where his clothes smell of frying-oil. UGH. Maybe I'll put the laundry tub outside on the porch!!

Anyway - be aware that if you were iced over they may estimate your bill. And they may estimate it to the HIGH side!