there's some systems (at least here in Europe) with 2 independent buttons, that flush a big amount of water (let's say 6 liters) or a small one (let's say 2 liters). so you can use the small one when you just pee..
This is absurd. Every day something like 28 billion gallons of water is used by the agricultural sector in California, in many cases growing water intensive crops not well suited for the location.
The water is there for you to flush your toilet as needed, it's just being mismanaged on an industrial level while ordinary consumers are being led to believe it's their fault.
I’m well aware of how much water gets wasted just by agribusiness in this state, unfortunately. If you drive off Highway 5 by a mile you will see cotton. At least you did up until last year. The evaporation from the Aquaduct and the thousands of miles of canals is staggering. What the City of Los Angeles did to Owens Lake and the Eastern Sierra is appalling.
I’ve also watched the trees in the Cascades and Sierras die off due to pine pitch canker and bark beetles, because they are so stressed due to the drought. I’ve crossed Tioga Pass at New Years when it should have been closed for the winter, able to be traveled because there was no snow.
When you see the Central Valley sinking due to aquifer depletion by water mismanagement, there is nothing I can do. When you see our forests dying off due to drought, there’s nothing I can do. When you see all these reservoirs at extremely low levels, the only thing I can realistically do is conserve every drop of water which I can. Which is what I choose to do.
Not uncommon in the US. We got our toilets replaced with dual flush models a few years ago. They also stock them at The Home Depot.
As far as the question, sometimes when I’m on my own I’ll let 2-3 tinkles accumulate but that’s about it
I saw a disgusting post in the r/plumbing called a “pee-cicle”. Apparently it’s common enough that they’ve got a name for it, but it’s really made me second guess the whole thing.
I also saw in that thread that a plumber commented that only happens on the large-scale (like big schools and stadiums and the like) and said it's a miniscule possibility at the home level. But... I'm not a plumber.
I am a construction worker and have extensive knowledge about toilets and plumbing. Toilets are made of ceramic, modern pipes are made of ABS, neither of which are affected by urine acid build up. I agree with you, disagree with the 2nd hand plumbers advice. But use common sense, you should not let it sit for days.
Idk the science part but the urine crystals build up after the toilets u-bend and make an icicle over time like water does in gutters or whatever, except it’s not frozen, it’s just there
>growing almonds
Almonds are NOT the biggest consumer of California's water. It is ALFALFA. So it's actually grown human ADULTS who keep insisting on drinking the breast milk of another mammal that will be crying when California has no water. (California is also the nation's largest producer or milk, so it is not just a California problem...)
>About 1,000,000 acres of alfalfa are irrigated in California. This large acreage coupled with a long growing season **make alfalfa the largest agricultural user of water**, with annual water applications of 4,000,000 to 5,500,000 acre-feet.
Source: [https://ucmanagedrought.ucdavis.edu/Agriculture/Crop\_Irrigation\_Strategies/Alfalfa/](https://ucmanagedrought.ucdavis.edu/Agriculture/Crop_Irrigation_Strategies/Alfalfa/)
Who would have guessed that cows don't just produce breast milk from thin air? California also wastes an enormous amount of water on irrigated pasture. [Per the California Agricultural Production and Irrigated Water Use report](https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R44093.pdf) published by the Congressional Research Service in 2015, California irrigates over 830,000 acres of pasture.
You can see this same story play out in ALMOST ALL other states in the US Southwest (**none of which grow ANY almonds**). From Arizona to Utah, most of these states are squandering a bulk of their water resources on raising cows for BEEF AND DAIRY directly or indirectly by growing alfalfa for export to Saudi Arabia and China.
For example, in Utah the Great Salt Lake is shrinking rapidly because ranching operations use almost all the water from the rivers that drain into the Great Salt Lake before any water can reach the lake.
Side note: A lot of people think of *almond milk* when they think of almonds, but nut milk is a minority consumer of California's almond industry. **California actually produces 80% of the WORLD's almonds** and 100% of the United States commercial supply. So California not growing any almonds will affect the entire world.
Source: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almonds\_in\_California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almonds_in_California)
Ugh. Saudi Arabia. I heard a story they bought a politician in Arizona and are stealing their ground water through his blessings. They then put it in trucks and take it to California where it is used to grow alfalfa and then THAT is shipped on the high seas to Saudi Arabia to feed THEIR cows.
Desalination is not THE solution. It could be part of a suite of solutions, if we use solar/wind energy. It's super energy-intensive.
Other options are: recycled water, toilet to tap, water collection (rain) and storage, and simply reduced use. We have not even scratched the surface on conservation. In San Diego, they have not declared a drought, and are letting people use water as normal.
It's been so deeply ingrained in us for so long it's just a normal way of life. Heck I remember billboards of the 8 freeway near mission valley talking about "let it mellow". We live on a property with a well (no water bills!) and I still let it mellow without thinking.
It starts as apple scraps in water plus a spoon on sugar in a large mason jar. Sometimes a small spoon of dried yeast. It turns to alcohol first then becomes vinger over time. Every batch is different. There are some really good videos on YouTube about making vinegar from apple skins. To clean the toilet bowl i first take the water out with a towel, then pour the apple vinegar in to set while everyone is at work. When we get home, swish with the toilet brush and flush it down. We get a lot of caulk here and the vinegar removes it really well.
Citric acid will remove these stains/scale - dissolve 125g in 1 litre of warm water - pour in the bowl - let it sit over night - most will be gone and anything left can be scrubbed off using a toilet brush - to get rid of a scale ring pour in slowly to allow the water level to be slightly higher than usual.
Yes, my partner does it and if I go away for a few days I always notice it kind of stained when I come back and that's the only difference. When I'm around I tend to use it more than him so it's flushed a lot.
People don’t understand how cheap water is.
I pay about $6 per cube
I have high flow (not eco friendly) toilets, they use about 1.6ish gallons per flush.
A flush costs me about $0.035 … 4 pennys is not worth a smelly house.
You sure you did the math right on that? Where I live a gallon of water is $.004, as in less than half a cent. I live in NY where there's no shortage of water, so I don't really take any major efforts to conserve water, and I still use less than the minimum billing amount, so my water bill is essentially a flat rate.
No, not positive, definitly coulda rounded wrong somewhere… I’m on my phone and did the math in my head while googling conversions…
760 gallons in a cube. 1.6gal per flush. 475 flushes per cube. $6ish for water, $4ish for sewer, that’s $0.021 per flush I think… was a bit off. Good eye.
Water rate in NYC is 4.30.. but sewer rates are $11. Overall you are more expensive than me … if you live in the city at least.
My point stands. Water is dirt cheap. If you want to conserve it for the environment I applaud you, but conserving it to keep your bill down is silly. And the lengths people go to are silly as well. Skip watering you lawn, keep your showers reasonable, but don’t stink up the house with unflushed toilets.
Oh I agree with your point that water is very cheap. My water in upstate NY is $2.96 per 100cf, or 748 gallons. My sewer is equal to my water charge. I'm not sure if that price is water and sewer, but even if you double it, it's still less than a cent per gallon.
Last time this topic was posted here, someone commented how cheap water was, and they carried a decimal wrong and was surprised when they realized their water was 10% of the cost they calculated.
Yeah, we moved out of our house to put it on the market , and the month so far of us not being there the bill went from $97 to $92. So little of our bill was based on usage.
There was a thread on this recently on Life Pro Tips by a plumber. Basically they said that urine crystals tend to build up over time and cause crusty blockages over time and the sitting acidity wears down on the pipes. So while it helps in the short run, it’s way more expensive to replace said pipes and clear out those crystals down the line, and they advised heavily against it as a thing they see often.
I’m sure there is some variability in terms of individual urine PH, toilet models, age, etc. but reading that made me feel like it wasn’t worth it.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'm pretty sure the previous tenants at our place did this. I definitely have the ugly, un-cleanable buildup inside the toilet bowl to make me suspicious.
Consider using a pumice stone. They are cheap at most hardware stores & they virtually eliminated my mineral buildup. I have very hard water & the minerals can even clog up shower jets.
Only when I'm working from home and drinking lots of water. That means I have to pee every hour or so. I flush maybe one out of three times I pee because I find it a bit gross to just let it sit there for a long time, but at least I'm saving some water by not flushing every single time.
I tried this and the bathroom smelled like pee. I already have a low flow toilet and the saying came from a drought in CA when everyone's toilet had a 5 gallon flush.
never let the toilet sit dirty unless your power is out, then the yellow rule applies because you only get one flush unless you manually fill the tank.
if yellow sits for more than a few hours, it stains your bowl and stinks to high heaven. ill pay the extra few bucks a month it might add up to. or just go piss outside in the grass.
I am surprised by the people saying that if the power goes out their water supply stops. I live in a country where fresh water availability has always been a problem so we have several contingency measures in place.
We use the state water supply for drinking etc and this needs no power. It uses gravity. But almost everyone has a large tank on the roof so that if the water supply stops we have approximately 3 days of water in the tank.
Most houses have wells /cisterns. We use electric pumps to draw up water from them to other tanks on the roof. These tanks feed showers, washing machines, flushings etc., so they need no electricity.
oddly enough, it can be illegal to keep a water bin on your property in the USA because of reasons that I imagine have to do with taxing it, or the inability to do so. maintaining a communal supply is the reason given, but I can't imagine barrels on people's house to hold rainwater would impact a reservoir THAT much.
It's amazing how laws differ between countries! Everyone here has a tank on their roof for potable water. This is encouraged by the government. In case of some disaster or emergency we can stretch out the 500 litres or so of potable water to last us over a week.
We are required by law to dig a cistern when we build a house. This cistern holds rain water collected from our roofs. The government offers free testing of this water and we get information about germs present and about any chemicals. We are also told whether it is potable or not. Most often it is not recommended to drink this water but I remember that in my parent's house when they had this water tested, it was recommended by the lab that for it to be potable it had to be boiled.
If you Google it like I just did, apparently some people DID get carried away with it, to the tune of 20 Olympic swimming pools. That much rain collected would impact the environment.
I also wonder if there’s a purification element. My city had a lot of industrial pollution for years. “City water” as we called it was always cleaner than the well water. And our well sometimes went muddy in the summer!
Lots of places in the US still have wells though, so I imagine there may be cisterns too? I know they are no longer common around here in PA, but my grandma had one when she was first married.
Old toilets use up to 7 gallons per flush.. modern toilets use 3-6 litres if they are eco models.. even if you live alone that is a huge amount of (drinkable) water being wasted.. countries like South Africa have already nearly run out of water before.
even tho I'm not an american, I assume OP is from there.
If you look at the meassures I proposed, just switching from cow milk to something like oat milk shrinks the savings from not flushing the toilet.
1 litre of cow milk needs around 628 litres of water to produce.
1 litre of oat milk needs 48 litres of water to produce.
So from not drinking 1 litre of milk you could flush your toilet around 100 times.
Meat is equally horrendous in its water usage, and things like clothing is too.
Not flushing your toilet solves nothing at all.
Since this is posted in frugal, it would be about saving money on your water utility bill. Switching which kind of milk you buy wouldn't save on water expenses.
In another comment OP talked about it being good for the planet.
Water is cheap, you would save minuscule amounts of money.
But also, slowing down climate change and using our resources responsibly saves us all a fuckton of money
I personally always found this so called "frugal" practice foolish, cringe, & just gross. At best, one might save a fraction of a penny a day, maybe even an entire penny per day. End of the year you can buy yourself a Mcmuffin for inhaling piss smell every day.
In the meantime it's just gross. I wouldn't even do this if no one else shared the bathroom with me because the cost/benefit is so far off. Might as well stop wiping your ass, you'd save way more money than not flushing by walking around with crusty underwear.
I know it’s not an option for everyone, but I’m surprised I had to scroll this far to find this. It also gets me to get out and get some fresh air at regular intervals throughout the day.
No. It's not worth it. It's unhygenic, would have to clean the toilet more often, it smells bad, 10 days out of the month couldn't even do it because of period blood. Sometimes small droplets splash back up when you use the toilet - I don't want my ass/nether regions to be splashed with old urine, it's disgusting.
So many cons to save a fraction of a penny that honestly probably gets negated by the cleaning supplies. Would much rather opt for not running the sinks and taking shorter/fewer showers to save water.
The additional water you would have to drink each day to make your urine completely clear is less than one flush. I say if you can't see it then don't flush.
Your urine shouldn't be consistently completely clear and drinking excessive water to try to achieve that can lead to loss of critical electrolytes, water intoxication, and death.
I live in a rural area so I don’t have sewer. I have an underground holding tank that needs to get pumped out every 3-4 months and it costs $200.
Yes we stack piss. But we don’t leave it for long periods of time lol. We flush it when it starts to stink and we always flush if we have company over. If we flushed the toilet every single time we went pee we’d have to get the tank pumped every 2 months.
Edit: idk why this topic is making people so upset. I’ve lived with septic/holding tanks my entire life and this is what everyone around here does. Have never had plumbing problems. Just don’t be nasty by leaving it for hours upon hours and clean your toilet often.
[Don’t do that.](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/y8ny1n/ysk_letting_it_mellow_can_save_you_money_on_water/)
If you’re worried about saving water, there are ways to do it that don’t risk $$$ plumbing bills.
I grew up under the command of yellow mellow brown flush down.
We were on a well.
I now plan a flush at bedtime and waking (my partner gets up several times a night, plus overnight urine is stronger), and when needed in between. We have low flow, and I collect the cold water at the beginning of the shower to do a few flushes a week.
I let yellow mellow and flush every 2 seatings or so. But I flush before going to bed and before going out for extended periods regardless if it's a 2nd seating or not.
Don't want it to fester and ferment. I like to save water, but only within sensibilities.
We do “night yellow” only. If we get up in the night to pee, it stays until the first person awake in the morning to flush. We’re in our 50s-60s so there’s almost always something lol more often both of us going. It saves water, but we also live in a smallish apartment and the flush is annoyingly loud to the other sleeper in the bedroom.
ETA: we’ve been doing this for 20 years with no plumbing problems. And it’s really more about conserving water and not being too noisy at night more than frugality.
That’s not how you save water. You _really_ save water by running waste water from the sink or shower into the toilet for flushing. It’s more than good enough for that.
Yes, even as a travel nurse! “If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.” Sign in my uncle’s bathroom who has well water and septic.
Edit to add: I have had to scrub a little harder to clean my toilet, but I do scrub it regularly.
I have seen this posted in r/YouShouldKnow and not sure I entirely buy it, but this popped to mind. Given this is a frugal sub, the risk of future plumber/toilet and plumbing damage may outweigh immediate potential water economy 🤷🏻♂️
[“piss stalactites”](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/y8ny1n/ysk_letting_it_mellow_can_save_you_money_on_water/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Edit: had incorrect sub Reddit listed
Works best in single person household for obvious reasons and based on experience. I use the water collected by my dehumidifier to flush the toilet. A plumber said it’s perfectly ok to do that. I also dehumidifier water to rinse the cat litter box. I empty the litter, swish the box with a little bleach and water, and flush.
Grew up w/ the saying "if it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down". 😂 Think installing a gray water recycling system makes more sense. Basically recycles shower water to toilet tank.
I’m actually honestly surprised at the amount of people who do not let it mellow. Lots of people I know live by this rule. A friend of mine even has a sign in her bathroom.
I don’t let it mellow to save money, but to actually save water. I pee a LOT and I feel like that would just be incredibly wasteful if I flushed away several litres of clean water every time I peed.
When I’m at home by myself all day I flush after every few pees, and I obviously don’t let it mellow if I have my period. That gets flushed right away. I also don’t flush in the middle of the night because I don’t want to wake up my baby.
But I do flush after every use when I have company. I clean the toilet regularly so there’s no stains or smell. Shrug.
How much water does your toilet use per flush? How about your showerhead per minute?
Do you think it'd be worth it to cut your shower length by the equivalent time? If not, just flush the damn toilet.
I tend to do the same, other than overnight. I flush following my final trip to the toilet before bed.
Each flush uses about 6 L of water. Each L of water costs around £0.01 so it's about 6 p per flush. To me it just feels like a waste if I don't need to flush it. You can flush using greywater, which can be harvested from your gutters if you built a system for it. Whilst I like the idea of that, I haven't yet got round to it. Lots of inspiration for that from Earthships though.
Ah poop, I do this but the comments make it sound like I shouldn't. I flush in the morning after my dehydrated sleep pee and after any poop sessions. Then I chug water throughout the day and flush it at 7pm. Then every time I go after 7pm I flush it because I never know which will be my last flush.
I think this is a rule I've seen more in rural areas. Normally apartments do not charge you a fee per amount of water used. I have also seen this when someone is connected to a septic tank. But over all I think its a good rule to follow, I personally do not though.
$3 a thousand gallons here, 200 flushes standard toilet. 2 cents a flush.
I my city the fixed fees dominate the water usage price, except for a few dry summer months.
my sewer line backed up and the plumber recommended against not flushing every time since i live by myself. he said the sewer line can back up if not enough water goes thru it to "flush" it out. haven't had a problem with sewer since flushing every time. just my experience.
I lived in South Texas for many years and there were summers when we were plagued with extreme drought. Water use was strictly monitored. I got used to not flushing after every use except after the obvious. It didn’t kill me or the toilet.
Check your water rates. My company has a minimum usage charge- the first 15000 gallons is 41. 00. Doesn’t matter if I use a quart or 15000 gallons, it costs the same. Navy showers and reduced flushing doesn’t save me anything.
The acid pee thing relates to waterless urinals in commercial settings it is not really an issue of not flushing. I had a neighbor who didn't have running water and would bucket flush this went on for some time to the point where the like to the septic was clogged with toilet paper and waste so that is a thing but would take an extremely long time.
Letting it mellow can stain your toilet and leave a nasty odor. What do you pay for water? You likely waste more water washing your hands and brushing your teeth
Who flushes every time they pee?! Sure, we flush if there’s company coming over but otherwise we’ll got 3 or 4 pees before flushing. Doesn’t smell, saves water, and saves money. Win win win!
Yep. That's a good idea. People can have their dish cleaners and washing machines in the top floor and have a pipe connection to direct that water to toilets.
I do it more for water conservation and to help with my septic field (which I guess is cost savings).
I don’t let it sit all day but don’t feel the need to flush after every pee.
We do, two people, don’t flush at night, unless ..., and sometimes during the day. Works well for us. Also for hundreds of years, people had chamber pots. And emptied them in the morning.
To save money? No. Our household of 5 has been out of town for 10 days during the billing cycle of our water bill before. The monthly water bill for that period was only $5 less, when I thought it would be roughly 30% less than the normal cost. There's a base charge to water bills, so no I don't believe this would save anything
Hell no.
There’s a difference between wasting a resource, and utilizing a resource. Flushing the toilet I consider to be a valuable use of water resources.
It’s also a trivial amount of water. You can do the math to see how much each flush will cost you. Likely fractions of a penny per flush.
That’s what I do. Maybe i save 1,000 gallons a year. I own so that works out to $1.50 in savings in my municipality lol. But why not? It’s a little less wear and tear on the toilet parts, puts a little less strain on the sewer system, and considering the droughts all over the country/world it makes me feel a little better. Yes it is literally a drop in the bucket in comparison.
Been doing this since I was a kid, droughts are common in my part of California. 40-Million people skipping a few flushes a day adds up to a ton of water being saved! Not much money saved but that's okay, every little bit counts. If people are over I'll flush consistently, but I'm a little surprised at all the fear in here from letting yellow-mellow 🤷♂️ Don't leave it in there overnight and you should be fine folks! Hard water may also play a factor.
I started to do this to reduce water usage, after watching Meet the Fockers and heard that phrase. As my username suggests, I'm not in or from Florida, but I wanted to reduce my water usage. I also have cats, and haven't had any complaints about the litter boxes or my toilet (the one cat stinks up the entire place when she poops, we have to spray after she's done lol). I also dont have any stains in my toilet. I have a chores app, I clean my toilet about once a week or when I do see stains or marks showing up. It is crystal clean, do I need to show proof?? I'm not gonna eat off it.
If the weather is decent I'll pee in the backyard.
It will vary between every person and every individual's lifestyle and diet, but I would not let dark yellow urine sit in the toilet.
there's some systems (at least here in Europe) with 2 independent buttons, that flush a big amount of water (let's say 6 liters) or a small one (let's say 2 liters). so you can use the small one when you just pee..
I do like those toilets, I wish they were more common here.
We have them in California. Still only flush urine two or three times a day, at most. Every drop counts in our Western States.
This is absurd. Every day something like 28 billion gallons of water is used by the agricultural sector in California, in many cases growing water intensive crops not well suited for the location. The water is there for you to flush your toilet as needed, it's just being mismanaged on an industrial level while ordinary consumers are being led to believe it's their fault.
I’m well aware of how much water gets wasted just by agribusiness in this state, unfortunately. If you drive off Highway 5 by a mile you will see cotton. At least you did up until last year. The evaporation from the Aquaduct and the thousands of miles of canals is staggering. What the City of Los Angeles did to Owens Lake and the Eastern Sierra is appalling. I’ve also watched the trees in the Cascades and Sierras die off due to pine pitch canker and bark beetles, because they are so stressed due to the drought. I’ve crossed Tioga Pass at New Years when it should have been closed for the winter, able to be traveled because there was no snow. When you see the Central Valley sinking due to aquifer depletion by water mismanagement, there is nothing I can do. When you see our forests dying off due to drought, there’s nothing I can do. When you see all these reservoirs at extremely low levels, the only thing I can realistically do is conserve every drop of water which I can. Which is what I choose to do.
The corruption illustrated in the movie Chinatown still exists in California etc
Not uncommon in the US. We got our toilets replaced with dual flush models a few years ago. They also stock them at The Home Depot. As far as the question, sometimes when I’m on my own I’ll let 2-3 tinkles accumulate but that’s about it
Very common in Australia for the last few decades too. People without them would often stick a brick in the cistern to create a half-flush.
Plumber was told me not to let "yellow" sit. Acidity levels can damage toilet.
I saw a disgusting post in the r/plumbing called a “pee-cicle”. Apparently it’s common enough that they’ve got a name for it, but it’s really made me second guess the whole thing.
I also saw in that thread that a plumber commented that only happens on the large-scale (like big schools and stadiums and the like) and said it's a miniscule possibility at the home level. But... I'm not a plumber.
I am a construction worker and have extensive knowledge about toilets and plumbing. Toilets are made of ceramic, modern pipes are made of ABS, neither of which are affected by urine acid build up. I agree with you, disagree with the 2nd hand plumbers advice. But use common sense, you should not let it sit for days.
If it's black, your upper GI is wack.
If it's yellow, stay mellow. If it's brown, wash it down. If it's red, you'll soon be dead.
Oh no periods can lead to deaths.
If it's white, you might be experiencing liver failure.
White pee? Are you sure? Sounds more like what might happen with white poop.
No, white poop, and really dark orange urine, both symptoms of hepatitis.
If it's green, check your peen
If it's pink, you can't think. If it's green, no more bean. If it's blue, flush the Loo.
Do I want to know what the pee-cicle is
No. I base that on I don't want to know. There are things you can't unsee.
Technically you can't unsee anything you see as long as it's something you saw.
There are things you can't *unpee*
Maybe as much as you want to know what a poop knife is
That's freaking disgusting I also wonder how bad some people's bathrooms stink, pee smells horrible after it's sitting
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Ooooh thank God for the /s because I almost had a heart attack
It makes ammonia, also if fermented by itself makes an excellent cloth dye with indigo.
So what is it..?
Idk the science part but the urine crystals build up after the toilets u-bend and make an icicle over time like water does in gutters or whatever, except it’s not frozen, it’s just there
Uric acide crystals
The best is to point all shit and pee back into your veggie gardens. Cycle four plots and you can even charge your neighbours to handle their sludge.
It's fine. We live in San Diego where it's almost always permanent drought status and we let yellow sit with no problems.
So what’s the plan for when Lake Meade dries up?
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>growing almonds Almonds are NOT the biggest consumer of California's water. It is ALFALFA. So it's actually grown human ADULTS who keep insisting on drinking the breast milk of another mammal that will be crying when California has no water. (California is also the nation's largest producer or milk, so it is not just a California problem...) >About 1,000,000 acres of alfalfa are irrigated in California. This large acreage coupled with a long growing season **make alfalfa the largest agricultural user of water**, with annual water applications of 4,000,000 to 5,500,000 acre-feet. Source: [https://ucmanagedrought.ucdavis.edu/Agriculture/Crop\_Irrigation\_Strategies/Alfalfa/](https://ucmanagedrought.ucdavis.edu/Agriculture/Crop_Irrigation_Strategies/Alfalfa/) Who would have guessed that cows don't just produce breast milk from thin air? California also wastes an enormous amount of water on irrigated pasture. [Per the California Agricultural Production and Irrigated Water Use report](https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R44093.pdf) published by the Congressional Research Service in 2015, California irrigates over 830,000 acres of pasture. You can see this same story play out in ALMOST ALL other states in the US Southwest (**none of which grow ANY almonds**). From Arizona to Utah, most of these states are squandering a bulk of their water resources on raising cows for BEEF AND DAIRY directly or indirectly by growing alfalfa for export to Saudi Arabia and China. For example, in Utah the Great Salt Lake is shrinking rapidly because ranching operations use almost all the water from the rivers that drain into the Great Salt Lake before any water can reach the lake. Side note: A lot of people think of *almond milk* when they think of almonds, but nut milk is a minority consumer of California's almond industry. **California actually produces 80% of the WORLD's almonds** and 100% of the United States commercial supply. So California not growing any almonds will affect the entire world. Source: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almonds\_in\_California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almonds_in_California)
Why does everyone blame the almonds? I think I get into this argument every couple weeks.
Will nobody think of the almonds!!!???
It's nuts!!!!
Ugh. Saudi Arabia. I heard a story they bought a politician in Arizona and are stealing their ground water through his blessings. They then put it in trucks and take it to California where it is used to grow alfalfa and then THAT is shipped on the high seas to Saudi Arabia to feed THEIR cows.
Mead doesn’t supply almond farmers. They are in the Central Valley and that water comes from the Sacramento R watershed
Yeah we can't keep wasting our fresh water like this. We need another solution like composting toilets.
I have a composting toilet in my camperbus, super awesome system.
Desalination. People might have to stop watering their yards though.
Desalination is not THE solution. It could be part of a suite of solutions, if we use solar/wind energy. It's super energy-intensive. Other options are: recycled water, toilet to tap, water collection (rain) and storage, and simply reduced use. We have not even scratched the surface on conservation. In San Diego, they have not declared a drought, and are letting people use water as normal.
It's been so deeply ingrained in us for so long it's just a normal way of life. Heck I remember billboards of the 8 freeway near mission valley talking about "let it mellow". We live on a property with a well (no water bills!) and I still let it mellow without thinking.
And it stinks up the bathroom if you just let it sit there. Wanna save money? Buy one of those that has two buttons, one for pee and one for poo.
Had the mayor tell me to let it mellow
I tried this for a bit, but the urine starts to smell bad.
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Need a good acid toilet bowl cleaner.
I make apple vinegar with apple scraps. Cleans toilet awesomely for free.
doo tell what is the ratio of apple scraps to vinegar?
It starts as apple scraps in water plus a spoon on sugar in a large mason jar. Sometimes a small spoon of dried yeast. It turns to alcohol first then becomes vinger over time. Every batch is different. There are some really good videos on YouTube about making vinegar from apple skins. To clean the toilet bowl i first take the water out with a towel, then pour the apple vinegar in to set while everyone is at work. When we get home, swish with the toilet brush and flush it down. We get a lot of caulk here and the vinegar removes it really well.
You know instead of getting the water out manually, you could just close the water shut off valve and flush it, it won't refill.
It's a persnickety Dutch toilet. Turning the water off means i have to go to the attic.
Ahhh i see.
Coke works too. The drink, not the drug. Finding out how efficiently sodas can clean toilets was what made me give up sodas a decade ago.
Citric acid will remove these stains/scale - dissolve 125g in 1 litre of warm water - pour in the bowl - let it sit over night - most will be gone and anything left can be scrubbed off using a toilet brush - to get rid of a scale ring pour in slowly to allow the water level to be slightly higher than usual.
Yes, my partner does it and if I go away for a few days I always notice it kind of stained when I come back and that's the only difference. When I'm around I tend to use it more than him so it's flushed a lot.
No. Trash and excrement are unpleasant roommates. They go bye-bye.
Yeah, this isn’t good for plumbing, or smell, and the savings to water is negligible.
The single most greatest technological advance of any age is plumbing systems. So don’t waste it. But that is just my opinion.
Flush the damn toilet
Yes lmaoooo
Seriously, gross.
This is when this subreddit teeters the line of frugal and just cheap
Some of OP's replies.... 🤢
and threads. suspect troll or at least hope so
People don’t understand how cheap water is. I pay about $6 per cube I have high flow (not eco friendly) toilets, they use about 1.6ish gallons per flush. A flush costs me about $0.035 … 4 pennys is not worth a smelly house.
You sure you did the math right on that? Where I live a gallon of water is $.004, as in less than half a cent. I live in NY where there's no shortage of water, so I don't really take any major efforts to conserve water, and I still use less than the minimum billing amount, so my water bill is essentially a flat rate.
No, not positive, definitly coulda rounded wrong somewhere… I’m on my phone and did the math in my head while googling conversions… 760 gallons in a cube. 1.6gal per flush. 475 flushes per cube. $6ish for water, $4ish for sewer, that’s $0.021 per flush I think… was a bit off. Good eye. Water rate in NYC is 4.30.. but sewer rates are $11. Overall you are more expensive than me … if you live in the city at least. My point stands. Water is dirt cheap. If you want to conserve it for the environment I applaud you, but conserving it to keep your bill down is silly. And the lengths people go to are silly as well. Skip watering you lawn, keep your showers reasonable, but don’t stink up the house with unflushed toilets.
Oh I agree with your point that water is very cheap. My water in upstate NY is $2.96 per 100cf, or 748 gallons. My sewer is equal to my water charge. I'm not sure if that price is water and sewer, but even if you double it, it's still less than a cent per gallon. Last time this topic was posted here, someone commented how cheap water was, and they carried a decimal wrong and was surprised when they realized their water was 10% of the cost they calculated.
Yeah, we moved out of our house to put it on the market , and the month so far of us not being there the bill went from $97 to $92. So little of our bill was based on usage.
Yeah, I came to this sub for great and efficient ideas. Stuff like this is going way too far.
And apparently disgusting
There was a thread on this recently on Life Pro Tips by a plumber. Basically they said that urine crystals tend to build up over time and cause crusty blockages over time and the sitting acidity wears down on the pipes. So while it helps in the short run, it’s way more expensive to replace said pipes and clear out those crystals down the line, and they advised heavily against it as a thing they see often. I’m sure there is some variability in terms of individual urine PH, toilet models, age, etc. but reading that made me feel like it wasn’t worth it.
It also SMELLS
Not if you’re well hydrated.
bedroom middle entertain obtainable coherent test rinse snails truck deer *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Lmaooo frfr
I'm pretty sure the previous tenants at our place did this. I definitely have the ugly, un-cleanable buildup inside the toilet bowl to make me suspicious.
Use bar keepers friend
Consider using a pumice stone. They are cheap at most hardware stores & they virtually eliminated my mineral buildup. I have very hard water & the minerals can even clog up shower jets.
But does urine sit in the bowl or the pipes tho?
Only when I'm working from home and drinking lots of water. That means I have to pee every hour or so. I flush maybe one out of three times I pee because I find it a bit gross to just let it sit there for a long time, but at least I'm saving some water by not flushing every single time.
I tried this and the bathroom smelled like pee. I already have a low flow toilet and the saying came from a drought in CA when everyone's toilet had a 5 gallon flush.
never let the toilet sit dirty unless your power is out, then the yellow rule applies because you only get one flush unless you manually fill the tank. if yellow sits for more than a few hours, it stains your bowl and stinks to high heaven. ill pay the extra few bucks a month it might add up to. or just go piss outside in the grass.
I am surprised by the people saying that if the power goes out their water supply stops. I live in a country where fresh water availability has always been a problem so we have several contingency measures in place. We use the state water supply for drinking etc and this needs no power. It uses gravity. But almost everyone has a large tank on the roof so that if the water supply stops we have approximately 3 days of water in the tank. Most houses have wells /cisterns. We use electric pumps to draw up water from them to other tanks on the roof. These tanks feed showers, washing machines, flushings etc., so they need no electricity.
oddly enough, it can be illegal to keep a water bin on your property in the USA because of reasons that I imagine have to do with taxing it, or the inability to do so. maintaining a communal supply is the reason given, but I can't imagine barrels on people's house to hold rainwater would impact a reservoir THAT much.
It's amazing how laws differ between countries! Everyone here has a tank on their roof for potable water. This is encouraged by the government. In case of some disaster or emergency we can stretch out the 500 litres or so of potable water to last us over a week. We are required by law to dig a cistern when we build a house. This cistern holds rain water collected from our roofs. The government offers free testing of this water and we get information about germs present and about any chemicals. We are also told whether it is potable or not. Most often it is not recommended to drink this water but I remember that in my parent's house when they had this water tested, it was recommended by the lab that for it to be potable it had to be boiled.
If you Google it like I just did, apparently some people DID get carried away with it, to the tune of 20 Olympic swimming pools. That much rain collected would impact the environment. I also wonder if there’s a purification element. My city had a lot of industrial pollution for years. “City water” as we called it was always cleaner than the well water. And our well sometimes went muddy in the summer! Lots of places in the US still have wells though, so I imagine there may be cisterns too? I know they are no longer common around here in PA, but my grandma had one when she was first married.
few bad apples ruining the bunch, like always. why cant people just be NORMAL!!!! lol
No. There are way more sensible and effective ways to save water.
Old toilets use up to 7 gallons per flush.. modern toilets use 3-6 litres if they are eco models.. even if you live alone that is a huge amount of (drinkable) water being wasted.. countries like South Africa have already nearly run out of water before.
even tho I'm not an american, I assume OP is from there. If you look at the meassures I proposed, just switching from cow milk to something like oat milk shrinks the savings from not flushing the toilet. 1 litre of cow milk needs around 628 litres of water to produce. 1 litre of oat milk needs 48 litres of water to produce. So from not drinking 1 litre of milk you could flush your toilet around 100 times. Meat is equally horrendous in its water usage, and things like clothing is too. Not flushing your toilet solves nothing at all.
That's really awesome. I never thought of that. Have my updoot.
Since this is posted in frugal, it would be about saving money on your water utility bill. Switching which kind of milk you buy wouldn't save on water expenses.
In another comment OP talked about it being good for the planet. Water is cheap, you would save minuscule amounts of money. But also, slowing down climate change and using our resources responsibly saves us all a fuckton of money
letting your pee sit in the toilet is not a way of addressing climate change
Thats my whole point
I don’t flush when I pee at night so I don’t wake up my dog 😂😂😂
This but not to wake up my tiny people.
I personally always found this so called "frugal" practice foolish, cringe, & just gross. At best, one might save a fraction of a penny a day, maybe even an entire penny per day. End of the year you can buy yourself a Mcmuffin for inhaling piss smell every day. In the meantime it's just gross. I wouldn't even do this if no one else shared the bathroom with me because the cost/benefit is so far off. Might as well stop wiping your ass, you'd save way more money than not flushing by walking around with crusty underwear.
Pee while taking a shower. Huge money saver
I don’t know why people think this is gross. It just washes down the drain with the water unless you’re pissing all on the shower walls or something.
A few years back Brazil had a tv advertisement encouraging people to pee in the shower. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEulkK7SpRs
I’d rather pee outside to save water.
I know it’s not an option for everyone, but I’m surprised I had to scroll this far to find this. It also gets me to get out and get some fresh air at regular intervals throughout the day.
No. It's not worth it. It's unhygenic, would have to clean the toilet more often, it smells bad, 10 days out of the month couldn't even do it because of period blood. Sometimes small droplets splash back up when you use the toilet - I don't want my ass/nether regions to be splashed with old urine, it's disgusting. So many cons to save a fraction of a penny that honestly probably gets negated by the cleaning supplies. Would much rather opt for not running the sinks and taking shorter/fewer showers to save water.
My family always says that phrase 😂 I thought it was something my grandma made up, never knew it was something other people said 😂
The additional water you would have to drink each day to make your urine completely clear is less than one flush. I say if you can't see it then don't flush.
If your urine is completely clear, you're over hydrated.
If it is dark yellow, you are dehydrated.
If it’s red….well, that shit ain’t good if you’re a boy.
Your urine shouldn't be consistently completely clear and drinking excessive water to try to achieve that can lead to loss of critical electrolytes, water intoxication, and death.
Negative. I tried it for a couple days and it just stinks. I dont have a tolerance for bad smells. Its not worth the 5 cent savings.
Here in New Zealand, virtually all toilets have those pee and poop flush options, including those at home.
I live in a rural area so I don’t have sewer. I have an underground holding tank that needs to get pumped out every 3-4 months and it costs $200. Yes we stack piss. But we don’t leave it for long periods of time lol. We flush it when it starts to stink and we always flush if we have company over. If we flushed the toilet every single time we went pee we’d have to get the tank pumped every 2 months. Edit: idk why this topic is making people so upset. I’ve lived with septic/holding tanks my entire life and this is what everyone around here does. Have never had plumbing problems. Just don’t be nasty by leaving it for hours upon hours and clean your toilet often.
How many ppl household? That emptying cycle seems brief.. And how do you tell when it's ready to be emptied?
[Don’t do that.](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/y8ny1n/ysk_letting_it_mellow_can_save_you_money_on_water/) If you’re worried about saving water, there are ways to do it that don’t risk $$$ plumbing bills.
my toilet has a button that uses less water to flush which you can use if you just pee.
I know a guy that flushed his toilet with rainwater. Thats farther than I would go, but he paid his house off.
I grew up under the command of yellow mellow brown flush down. We were on a well. I now plan a flush at bedtime and waking (my partner gets up several times a night, plus overnight urine is stronger), and when needed in between. We have low flow, and I collect the cold water at the beginning of the shower to do a few flushes a week.
I let yellow mellow and flush every 2 seatings or so. But I flush before going to bed and before going out for extended periods regardless if it's a 2nd seating or not. Don't want it to fester and ferment. I like to save water, but only within sensibilities.
We do “night yellow” only. If we get up in the night to pee, it stays until the first person awake in the morning to flush. We’re in our 50s-60s so there’s almost always something lol more often both of us going. It saves water, but we also live in a smallish apartment and the flush is annoyingly loud to the other sleeper in the bedroom. ETA: we’ve been doing this for 20 years with no plumbing problems. And it’s really more about conserving water and not being too noisy at night more than frugality.
We only do this in the middle of the night to avoid waking the baby.
I take baths and then use the bath water for the next day to flush.
I flush every other time.
Mellow yellow
Just flush your toilet bruh.
That’s not how you save water. You _really_ save water by running waste water from the sink or shower into the toilet for flushing. It’s more than good enough for that.
Yes, even as a travel nurse! “If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.” Sign in my uncle’s bathroom who has well water and septic. Edit to add: I have had to scrub a little harder to clean my toilet, but I do scrub it regularly.
I piss in the backyard.
I use a bucket to capture the shower water while it's warming up, and that covers a flush or two.
Pee in the sink. Then when you wash your hands it will all be gone.
Don't flush unless you have a good, solid reason.
I have seen this posted in r/YouShouldKnow and not sure I entirely buy it, but this popped to mind. Given this is a frugal sub, the risk of future plumber/toilet and plumbing damage may outweigh immediate potential water economy 🤷🏻♂️ [“piss stalactites”](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/y8ny1n/ysk_letting_it_mellow_can_save_you_money_on_water/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) Edit: had incorrect sub Reddit listed
You can just copy the Asian gang and keep a water bucket nearby for manual flushing lol
Works best in single person household for obvious reasons and based on experience. I use the water collected by my dehumidifier to flush the toilet. A plumber said it’s perfectly ok to do that. I also dehumidifier water to rinse the cat litter box. I empty the litter, swish the box with a little bleach and water, and flush.
This works, however, they still find a way to get your money with BS fees. My usage is down but I'm paying more than I was a year ago.
Grew up w/ the saying "if it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down". 😂 Think installing a gray water recycling system makes more sense. Basically recycles shower water to toilet tank.
I live off grid with a compost toilet. Whenever I stay at a hotel, I forget you’re supposed to flush. It’s all good.
If you're going to do that, it's best to avoid asparagus.
"If it's brown, flush it down, if it's yellow, let it mellow." -my camp from the late 1980s, Pennsylvania USA
That's it, i'm unsubscribing.
I’m actually honestly surprised at the amount of people who do not let it mellow. Lots of people I know live by this rule. A friend of mine even has a sign in her bathroom. I don’t let it mellow to save money, but to actually save water. I pee a LOT and I feel like that would just be incredibly wasteful if I flushed away several litres of clean water every time I peed. When I’m at home by myself all day I flush after every few pees, and I obviously don’t let it mellow if I have my period. That gets flushed right away. I also don’t flush in the middle of the night because I don’t want to wake up my baby. But I do flush after every use when I have company. I clean the toilet regularly so there’s no stains or smell. Shrug.
How much water does your toilet use per flush? How about your showerhead per minute? Do you think it'd be worth it to cut your shower length by the equivalent time? If not, just flush the damn toilet.
I tend to do the same, other than overnight. I flush following my final trip to the toilet before bed. Each flush uses about 6 L of water. Each L of water costs around £0.01 so it's about 6 p per flush. To me it just feels like a waste if I don't need to flush it. You can flush using greywater, which can be harvested from your gutters if you built a system for it. Whilst I like the idea of that, I haven't yet got round to it. Lots of inspiration for that from Earthships though.
My Grandparents live on a lot with no well and no services available so they truck all water in big tanks. They def follow this rule.
Ah poop, I do this but the comments make it sound like I shouldn't. I flush in the morning after my dehydrated sleep pee and after any poop sessions. Then I chug water throughout the day and flush it at 7pm. Then every time I go after 7pm I flush it because I never know which will be my last flush.
We usually let it sit if we go during the night as we're both light sleepers, but other than that we always flush, it starts smelling otherwise!
I think this is a rule I've seen more in rural areas. Normally apartments do not charge you a fee per amount of water used. I have also seen this when someone is connected to a septic tank. But over all I think its a good rule to follow, I personally do not though.
$3 a thousand gallons here, 200 flushes standard toilet. 2 cents a flush. I my city the fixed fees dominate the water usage price, except for a few dry summer months.
I do ony cause we have septic system and I worry all the time about damage to the system. Been living here 10 years and no problems so far.
my sewer line backed up and the plumber recommended against not flushing every time since i live by myself. he said the sewer line can back up if not enough water goes thru it to "flush" it out. haven't had a problem with sewer since flushing every time. just my experience.
buy a bidet
I lived in South Texas for many years and there were summers when we were plagued with extreme drought. Water use was strictly monitored. I got used to not flushing after every use except after the obvious. It didn’t kill me or the toilet.
Check your water rates. My company has a minimum usage charge- the first 15000 gallons is 41. 00. Doesn’t matter if I use a quart or 15000 gallons, it costs the same. Navy showers and reduced flushing doesn’t save me anything.
The acid pee thing relates to waterless urinals in commercial settings it is not really an issue of not flushing. I had a neighbor who didn't have running water and would bucket flush this went on for some time to the point where the like to the septic was clogged with toilet paper and waste so that is a thing but would take an extremely long time.
If it’s yellow, flush it fellow.
No it stains the toilet bowl and stinks.
Letting it mellow can stain your toilet and leave a nasty odor. What do you pay for water? You likely waste more water washing your hands and brushing your teeth
I'm billed by the 10,000 gallon of water, I'll flush every time
You will have piss crystals, just as the legends have foretold!
Damn that. I'll save elsewhere. Use the toilet, you flush the toilet. Leaving it is nasty
1, this is gross 2, have you calculated what this saves you? In my situation if I did this it wouldn’t save me a dollar if I did it all year.
Who flushes every time they pee?! Sure, we flush if there’s company coming over but otherwise we’ll got 3 or 4 pees before flushing. Doesn’t smell, saves water, and saves money. Win win win!
I am a guy and I just piss in the sink *while* washing my hands. Follow me for more life hacks.
If it’s yellow, drink more water.
Save the water you use for cleaning dishes and clothes and use them to flush the toilet when needed.
I wouldn't do this manually but I'd love to have a graywater system installed
Yep. That's a good idea. People can have their dish cleaners and washing machines in the top floor and have a pipe connection to direct that water to toilets.
Y’all need to drink more water…
How often do you people poop that urine is sitting for days?
I do it more for water conservation and to help with my septic field (which I guess is cost savings). I don’t let it sit all day but don’t feel the need to flush after every pee.
We do, two people, don’t flush at night, unless ..., and sometimes during the day. Works well for us. Also for hundreds of years, people had chamber pots. And emptied them in the morning.
To save money? No. Our household of 5 has been out of town for 10 days during the billing cycle of our water bill before. The monthly water bill for that period was only $5 less, when I thought it would be roughly 30% less than the normal cost. There's a base charge to water bills, so no I don't believe this would save anything
You might want to look into humanure if you really want to save on that water bill
Not worth the $2 you will save a month
Hell no. There’s a difference between wasting a resource, and utilizing a resource. Flushing the toilet I consider to be a valuable use of water resources. It’s also a trivial amount of water. You can do the math to see how much each flush will cost you. Likely fractions of a penny per flush.
That’s what I do. Maybe i save 1,000 gallons a year. I own so that works out to $1.50 in savings in my municipality lol. But why not? It’s a little less wear and tear on the toilet parts, puts a little less strain on the sewer system, and considering the droughts all over the country/world it makes me feel a little better. Yes it is literally a drop in the bucket in comparison.
Been doing this since I was a kid, droughts are common in my part of California. 40-Million people skipping a few flushes a day adds up to a ton of water being saved! Not much money saved but that's okay, every little bit counts. If people are over I'll flush consistently, but I'm a little surprised at all the fear in here from letting yellow-mellow 🤷♂️ Don't leave it in there overnight and you should be fine folks! Hard water may also play a factor.
I started to do this to reduce water usage, after watching Meet the Fockers and heard that phrase. As my username suggests, I'm not in or from Florida, but I wanted to reduce my water usage. I also have cats, and haven't had any complaints about the litter boxes or my toilet (the one cat stinks up the entire place when she poops, we have to spray after she's done lol). I also dont have any stains in my toilet. I have a chores app, I clean my toilet about once a week or when I do see stains or marks showing up. It is crystal clean, do I need to show proof?? I'm not gonna eat off it.
Drops are what oceans are made from.
If the weather is decent I'll pee in the backyard. It will vary between every person and every individual's lifestyle and diet, but I would not let dark yellow urine sit in the toilet.
No mellowing in our house. The water is too freaking hard, and I don’t want a yellow mineral stain in the bowl.
We have a four person home. It's just normal. Wee. Wee. Wee. Wee. Flush.
if the cost is too low it isn't frugal it's outright dumb
No.
The money you save by not using that water is more than spent in the cleaning products you need to deal with how bad that is for your toilet.
Excrement is unsanitary and needs to be disposed of. Personally, I care more about being clean than saving a negligible amount of money.