Good finances, good teeth

What do good finances and good teeth have in common? How could changing your brushing habits save you money?

We are all encouraged to brush our teeth at least twice a day. And, I trust you all have wonderful smiles to share with friends and relatives. However, how you brush your teeth could determine if you are missing an opportunity to save money. Before you read any further, yes, I have tested this and the numbers are true.

I used to turn the water in the sink on full, brush my teeth thoroughly (about 45 seconds to a minute), rinse my mouth, rinse the tooth brush and then go about my day. One day I wondered how much water was I wasting while brushing my teeth and letting the water run. It ranged from one gallon to two gallons of water per brushing.

Let’s assume we are wasting two gallons of water per brushing, twice a day, 30 days per month. That would be 120 gallons of water per month or almost 1,500 gallons of water over the course of a year. For a family of four that could be almost 6,000 gallons of water! That is enough water for a small pool!

So, turn off the water while you are actually brushing your teeth! Talk about an easy way to help save the environment and also save money. Just don’t forget to brush those teeth!