In alt.home.repair on Sun, 27 Feb 2005 13:17:10 GMT "Edwin Pawlowski"
posted:
"meirman" wrote in message
They decided long ago not to read the meters in our n'hood, because we
would have to pay for it, and so they only read the meter that feeds
all 109 homes, and we divide the cost evenly.
If it is very cheap, that may be OK, but I'd rather not pay for the slobs up
Well, I think it is cheap, but now that you mention it, I'll check.
the street with 10 kids, eleven cars to wash and the lawn sprinklers going
20 hours a day.
Well there is no one like that in the n'hood, because the townhouses
all have one big bedrooom and two little ones. Quite a few single
people and those with one or two kids.
Most households have two cars, none more than 3, and the ones I see
washing them really don't use much water. Both use a bucket, and one
uses the hose to rinse it off when he's done, but only for a couple
minutes. Another guy would wipe it down every morning using the dew.
I'll pay more attention to this maybe when it is warmer.
I have one car and never wash it, except at the car wash. I only go
to the good car wash after it snows, to get the salt off the underside
of the car. When the top is leaking, which is 2 years out of every 7,
I don't wash it at all.
Most people don't water the lawn much either, I think, since it rains
every month of the year here. I watered one year after I planted some
bushes and another year after grass seed. Last fall I watered new sod
every day for more 2 month (because I put a few pieces in every week
for 4 or 6 weeks.) And most of us have the same size lawn. Actually
I'm at the end of a group and my lawn is 3 times the size of the
people in the middle, 3/4ths of us. (I have a 20th of an acre,
counting the land the house is on.
)
I take baths, usually a bath every day, which probably uses as much
water as 2 or 3 showers, but I wouldn't change that even if I were
paying for exactly what I use. I have to remind myself what size
water heater I have, and then I'll ask a question about my water
heater. I can only get a little more than one bathtub-full of water
out of my almost new water heater before the water turns cold.
I run the dishwasher no more than once a week. And the washing
machine the same. Hey, I'm losing money.
The people who came up with this plan didn't have large families or
lots of cars or water their lawn much. I don't know how much they
were going to charge us for reading the meters, but I think that was
their only motivation for not having it done.
As it is, we pay about $400 a year for the two of us. When
the kids were home it was about $500 a year.
Meirman
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