• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Home
About Us Contact Us Advertising
Articles
Budgeting Debt Frugal Insurance Investing Making Money Retirement Saving Money
Tips
Money Saving Tips Trash Audit
Make Money Forums Blogs
Create a Blog Control Panel All Entries All Blogs
Tools
Calculators Prescription Drug Coupons Online Savings Accounts Test Your Knowledge Financial Directory Credit Cards

SavingAdvice.com Blog

Bridging the gap between saving money and investing

Subscribe

 

Join Now or Login

  • Home
    • Advertising
  • Tips
    • Money Saving Tips
    • Recycle, Reuse and Repurpose
  • Make Money
  • Credit Score Guide
  • Forums
  • Blogs
    • Create a Blog
  • Tools
  • Financial Basics
    • Back to Basics: Saving Money
    • Back to Basics: Beginners Guide to Retirement
    • Back to Basics: What Every Child Under 10 Should Know About Personal Finance
    • Back to Financial Basics: Investing In Stocks

Rain Barrel: Outdoor Gadgets That Save Money

August 18, 2012 by Jeffrey Strain

If you are someone who enjoys gardening or has extensive landscaping in their yard, a great outdoor gadget to consider purchasing is a rain barrel. Rain barrels are containers which capture rainwater (usually from your gutter system coming down from your roof) which can be stored for use around your home and yard. There are a variety of rain barrel sizes with most ranging from 50 gallons to 80 gallons. In addition to the container, a rain barrel will usually have some type of spigot which will allow you to fill up watering containers, and some sort of connection for a hose.

rain barrel

The main money-saving advantage of rain barrels is the reduction of money spent on the household water bill. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average household lawn and garden is responsible for about 40% of a household’s water usage during the summer months. A rain barrel system can save a household from using approximately 1300 gallons of water from their water utility during the summer months providing a free water source for use on the landscaping.

For those who have flower gardens and other sensitive plants in their yards, another financial advantage of using rain barrels is that they can help keep soil healthier compared to tap water which can result in less landscaping costs (there is currently some debate as to whether or not rainwater is good for consumable garden plants, so please do your research before using rain barrel water on them). Water coming from the water utility may contain a number of additional substances such as chlorine, lime, calcium and fluoride which over time can potentially damage the soil and reduce plant healthiness. Rainwater collected in rain barrels does not contain these additional substances.

The water that comes from rain barrels is non-potable which means that it can’t be used for drinking water. That doesn’t mean, however, that its use is limited to watering plants around the house and in the yard. Rain barrel water can be used to wash windows, wash cars, and even flush toilets. By using rainwater rather than water from your utility, you save money on all these activities as well.

How much money you will actually save depends a lot on what the water costs are in the area where you live. Those that live in areas where water is quite expensive can see a rain barrel pay for itself relatively quickly, while those that live in areas where water is relatively inexpensive will have to use a rain barrel for a longer period of time to get back their investment. A rain barrel will almost always pay for itself many times over during its lifetime no matter how inexpensive your utility water may be.

While rain barrels don’t cost a lot for the amount of money you will save over the lifetime of their use, you can also make your own rain barrel (PDF) if you have the time, energy and want to save even a little bit more money.

Jeffrey Strain
Jeffrey Strain

Jeffrey strain is a freelance author, his work has appeared at The Street.com and seekingalpha.com. In addition to having authored thousands of articles, Jeffrey is a former resident of Japan, former owner of Savingadvice.com and a professional digital nomad.

Reader Interactions

What did you think about this article?
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Primary Sidebar

    • Articles
    • Tips
    • Make Money
    • Credit Score Guide
    • Forums
    • Blogs
    • Tools
    • About
    • Contact

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Thank you for Signing Up
    Please correct the marked field(s) below.
    1,true,6,Contact Email,21,false,1,First Name,21,false,1,Last Name,2
    Copyright © 2025 SavingAdvice.com. All Rights Reserved.
    • Privacy Policy