My grandma's rain barrel trick cut my water bill by 40 bucks a month
I used to think rain barrels were pointless until last spring when I hooked up two 50 gallon ones under my gutters in Portland. The problem was my garden watering was eating up so much city water, and I was skeptical about the whole setup. After three weeks of collecting runoff and using it on my tomatoes and peppers, I saw the savings on my next bill. It's not fancy tech, just gravity and a spigot, but it worked way better than I expected. Has anyone else tried this in a place with real winter freezes, or do you drain the barrels before the cold hits?