10 hidden ways you're wasting money in the bathroom

If you've been looking at your spending and can't find anywhere to trim a few dollars, then it's worth considering how you might be wasting money.

One space you might not have considered when looking at opportunities to save is the bathroom.

The bathroom is full of products and resources we could use more cost-effectively and when you know how you can soon start saving.

Here are 10 ways you might be wasting money in the bathroom:

1. Long, hot showers

They are a simple pleasure in the winter and when you're not feeling the best, but the longer and hotter your shower, the higher your power and water bills will be. And given that hot water accounts for a huge chunk of your energy bill, the less you use, the more you'll save.

One way to cut down on the length of your showers is to use a timer and set it to four minutes. According to Yarra Valley Water, cutting the length of your shower time from seven minutes (the average time people spend in the shower) to four minutes will save you $280 a year on utility costs.

2. Using an old shower head

Another way to save on both water and heating costs is to replace your shower head to a water-saving one. Tapware retailer Ezy Fix estimates you could save at least $157 a year by changing your showerhead, depending on how many people are in your household.

"If a family of two switches from a shower with a two-star WELS (water efficiency labelling and standards) rating to one with a four-star WELS rating, they'll save at least $157 each year," the brand explained in an article on its website.

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3. Letting water run

You can also save on water usage by turning off the tap when you don't need water, like, for example, when you're brushing your teeth. This also applies to showering if you're putting on a hair mask that needs to sit for 10 minutes or so.

And if you want to get really frugal try a 'military' or 'navy shower' where you run water just to get wet, then turn it off while you lather up with soap and turn the water back on just long enough to rinse off.

4. Frequent baths

While we're all probably not using showers as efficiently and cost-effectively as we should, they are still better than baths when it comes to water consumption and therefore your water bill. So choose showers over baths most of the time to save a little money, and then when you do have a bath it'll feel like more of a treat.

5. Throwing out soap bits

Soap goes from lovely to annoying once the bar reduces to a size that is hard to hold and lather up, so it's understandable you might toss those bits away for a fresh bar.

But that is a waste of money because you could still get plenty of use out of that piece by either popping it into a soap saver bag and washing yourself with the bag like you would a loofah, or using the good old fashioned method of squishing the soap bits onto another bar.

6. Using body wash instead of bar soap

Body washes and shower gels are popular toiletries, but when you consider the cost of each product, how much you use per wash and that you usually require a loofah to apply it, bar soap can end up much cheaper overall.

You can find good quality bar soap for around a dollar or two each, especially if you buy it in bulk, and if you follow the tip above you'll be getting the most out of every cent and wasting very little product.

7. Toilet paper usage

Toilet paper is one of those things you can't do without, but there are plenty of ways to save on this expense. Buying in bulk and comparing prices per sheet are the most popular ways to save here.

But there is another hack you can try which is said to slow down how fast you go through toilet paper. To do this you need to squish the roll before you put it on the toilet roll holder. Then when you use it, the roll should spin slower preventing you unintentionally using more than you need.

8. Using too much product

Most of us were never taught how much product we need from our toiletries per use, and it's super easy (and tempting) to squeeze or pour a heap out of the bottle or tube. But doing this means we waste product and go through it faster, meaning we have to buy it more frequently.

For shampoo and conditioner, the recommendation is to use a coin-sized amount depending on how long and thick your hair is. For example, a 20 cent or $1 coin's worth of product should suffice for long and thick hair.

As for toothpaste, we apparently only need a pea-sized amount, so if you tend to cover the whole toothbrush with paste, try halving that and see if you end up buying toothpaste less often.

9. Ignoring repairs

The sooner you fix that dripping tap and get that recurring mould patch looked at the better, because the longer you leave it, the worse the problem gets and the more expensive it'll be to fix in the long run.

10. Leaving devices charging all the time

Just like leaving the TV and microwave on in standby mode, leaving an electric toothbrush charging after it has fully charged does actually use electricity. It might not be a huge amount, but it all adds up. So once your bathroom devices are fully charged, turn them off at the power point to avoid vampire energy adding to your power bill.