Using rainwater collected from your roof for the garden

[Kaleva]

10. Well, my washing machine uses 48 gallons total

Emptied out an large plastic storage container and set it by the washer. Loaded up the washer with dirty clothes and put it going. When it went into the drain cycle, I held the drain hose and directed the water into the container. Shut off the washer and hauled the water up the stairs and outside and watered various plants and shrubs. This took many trips. I put the washer going again and repeated when the washer went into the drain and spin cycle. Hauled that water out too. So glad I took a shower before doing this as I'm now wet with sweat!

Measured the inside of the container (the container was just under full both times) and converted the cubic inches to gallons and came up with 24 gallons so it's 48 gallons total.

That's alot of water and as I do laundry about twice a week, that's 96 gallons of grey water a week going down the drain. Water I could be using on my garden next year. Looking at my water bill, my washer accounts for half of my water usage but I sure as frick am not going to be lugging that much water out of the basement and outside.

I'm in some pain right now so I'll take a quick shower and spend the rest of the day going over my budget to come up with the money to purchase a washing and drying method that uses much less water and is affordable to me.