Being broke/cheap/thrifty/- economizing on water

[northernphil]

We get our water delivered every Friday , 12B for 20 litres , we also pump water form a well but living near to rice fields ( this ain't Bangkok ) I am concerned where the poison they spray on the fields goes and hey 24B for a weeks drinking water.

[kiwikeith]

If you want to drink chlorine then you want your head read.

I wash veges and cook with bottled water.

I buy the big packs of water from the super market, 15 large bottles of mineral water for 117 BHT at Makro today.

Try dropping off a couple of bottles of beer a week and your water is free.

[MW72]

I'm amazed so many expats are apparently either worried about the cost of water or still lugging heavy bottles home from the shops.

Surely this is one of the absolute basics to life here?

Well, there are a number of threads on "Living on hee haw", and I thought it was worth asking. The number of people who i) look as if they have nothing, but ii) pay 15 baht for a bottle of water is amazing. I'll fill a bottle in a food court but loads of people seem happy to pay a third or a half of the cost of their lunch for water.

You do realise that some people will now think you are talking about donkeys (hee haw)? There is probably someone out there thinking not only are you tight when buying water but you are living off donkey flesh.

[minikev]

I think that the water vending machines are OK if (and it's a big if) they are serviced regularly and correctly. Most people in Thailand would agree that maintenance is not a strong point here, and I am one of them.

So I have now switched to having the big 20l blue water bottles delivered for 40B (50B with tip). All round this seems like the most reliable, simple and cheap option to me.

25 baht for the new bottles and 20 baht for the old! Standard price why wold you pay 50 baht? Do you pay double for petrol too?

[Amusements]

My water usage in Thailand is definitely a bit strange. I use Tesco water for tea/coffee, Makro water for rinsing out my mouth after cleaning teeth, 20 liter white bottles for cleaning veg and the odd plate rinse, tap water for general cleaning, and I drink refrigerated Minere to rehydrate. I also keep a huge stockpile of bottled water, because fresh water is the one thing we can not live without for very long. There have been a couple of occasions where fresh water was none existent for me whilst living here.

[Derek JM]

Dunno about you guys but my local machine (Chiang mai, Next to freedom bar) put a heavy down spin on the 1 baht coin and you get 20litre worth of water!

Seriously! Now that is some seriously cheap water!

I used to (Unknowingly) drink tap water out in Isaan. Only realised it was tap water when I caught the ex-filling up the bottles with the hose pipe! No wonder I getting the sh*ts everytime I went out there. Silly me to blame the MIL's cooking!

[zurgos]

I find this extremely racist and disturbing....

Watch out, your reference to Scottish, makes this post borderline racist.

<deleted>

I'm writing from first hand experience.

I did think about that but we Scots take enormous pride in the fact that copper wire was invented when two Aberdonians fought over a penny, ho, ho, ho.

Seriously. Germans use the expression "Scottish prices" routinely. We just to take great pride in our Calvinist dourness. There's actually a "Little book of Calvin", full of joys such as, "Aye, we'll be deid soon".

how we English are looking forward to that day.

[ravip]

I'm inclined to think "iii" has a lot going for it. I'm not convinced that the one baht machines would look great inside - although I've drank gallons without squits.

And you are still living to tell the tale.

So, what's wrong with drinking it? Just carry on!

Or are you finding ways to spend the extra money?

Edit

Earning in $ thinking in Satangs!

Way to go...

Edited October 29, 2015 by ravip

[ozyjon]

W.C. Fields

It was a woman who drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her for it.

Now don't say you can't swear off drinking; it's easy. I've done it a thousand times.

I exercise extreme self control. I never drink anything stronger than gin before breakfast.

Say anything that you like about me except that I drink water.

I never drank anything stronger than beer before I was twelve.

Fields gave this rationale for not drinking water:
Fish &lt;deleted&gt; in it.

A woman drove me to drink, and I'll be a son-of-a-gun but I never even wrote to thank her.

During one of my treks through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew.

We were compelled to live on food and water for several days.

I feel like a midget with muddy feet had been walking over my tongue all night.

Christmas at my house is always at least six or seven times more pleasant than

anywhere else.

We start drinking early. And while everyone else is seeing only one Santa Claus,

we'll be seeing six or seven.

[smotherb]

Don't now what water costs, get it from my corner store along with a bunch of other stuff and the wife takes care of that. Never costs enough to worry about. Will I get rich saving on the cost of water?

[totally thaied up]

What did the doctor say was the problem to make you so sick?

[mcfish]

Jeez astranoughts drink their own piss and line up for the privilege.. No matter how bad the local tap water it's got to be better than that

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

[MW72]

I find this extremely racist and disturbing....

Watch out, your reference to Scottish, makes this post borderline racist.

<deleted>

I'm writing from first hand experience.

I did think about that but we Scots take enormous pride in the fact that copper wire was invented when two Aberdonians fought over a penny, ho, ho, ho.

Seriously. Germans use the expression "Scottish prices" routinely. We just to take great pride in our Calvinist dourness. There's actually a "Little book of Calvin", full of joys such as, "Aye, we'll be deid soon".

how we English are looking forward to that day.

You need to get a sense of humour zurgos.

I'm a Scot and I can see the humour in these post. You take offence too easily.

[thailanddogerator]

I only drink mineral water, which one can be delivered ?

[anon4546543]

I became severely ill on the two occasions that I drank deep water well in the villiage that I live in. Being a bit dumb, I did dot think to boil this water. After seeing my two stage exit of all bodily fluids at the same time, my family only drinks bottled water now. Costing me a small fortune. So is there a small chlorine tablet available in Thailand that kills all bacteria and viruses and the chlorine and can be dispelled by leaving it in a fridge for a period of time?

[Craig krup]

I became severely ill on the two occasions that I drank deep water well in the villiage that I live in. Being a bit dumb, I did dot think to boil this water. After seeing my two stage exit of all bodily fluids at the same time, my family only drinks bottled water now. Costing me a small fortune. So is there a small chlorine tablet available in Thailand that kills all bacteria and viruses and the chlorine and can be dispelled by leaving it in a fridge for a period of time?

A pharmacy should have them, although I've not tried. Dirt cheap through Amazon, British army ration packs contained massive strips of them and they're powerful: designed to work with manky cold water in no time, so warm non-turbid water and some time I reckon one tablet in 5 litres would probably be okay. I doubt you'd get it out, but then you quickly can't taste it. People who drink chlorinated water think that non-chlorinated water tastes funny.

[KittenKong]

I think that the water vending machines are OK if (and it's a big if) they are serviced regularly and correctly. Most people in Thailand would agree that maintenance is not a strong point here, and I am one of them.

So I have now switched to having the big 20l blue water bottles delivered for 40B (50B with tip). All round this seems like the most reliable, simple and cheap option to me.

25 baht for the new bottles and 20 baht for the old! Standard price why wold you pay 50 baht? Do you pay double for petrol too?

As I tend to believe no one and nothing in Thailand, I did do the rounds of about 6 different water delivery places before choosing one.

All of them wanted 40-50B for the large clear blue bottles (they may actually be 25lit and not 20lit as I mentioned before), and so I picked one that was at the lower end of the scale and who I know comes often to my condo building. I give them 10B extra because I am on a high floor and at the end of the corridor, so it takes a while to get to me. It seems reasonable.

Most of them also did the opaque white bottles for less, but as far as I know the water is not the same.

[fey]

I'm amazed so many expats are apparently either worried about the cost of water or still lugging heavy bottles home from the shops.

Surely this is one of the absolute basics to life here?

when lugging a water bottle home becomes a problem you know your either getting really old or really fat

[anon4546543]

Craig krup. Thanks for something positive. I was in Aust infantry. (never saw combat) During exercises in the outback we also had the tablets and a carbon water filter. But I was always told that chlorine tablets are lethal if used for a long time. The other option, carbon filtering is expensive Now in Thailand, I would love to see a solution to the problem. In addition to bacteria, perhaps it is the natural chemicals in the ground. All I know is that it is me a farang that suffers from the water, the Thais seem immune.

[SoiBiker]

I'm amazed so many expats are apparently either worried about the cost of water or still lugging heavy bottles home from the shops.

Surely this is one of the absolute basics to life here?

when lugging a water bottle home becomes a problem you know your either getting really old or really fat

I'm neither.

It's not 'a problem'. It's just something I'd rather not do, especially because there's absolutely no reason to do so.

[blackcab]

Nobody has mentioned the cheapest option: Using the free water dispensers that are dotted around the main roads in Bangkok.

The intrepid could fill up their bottles there, right after the homeless dude who lives under the BTS has slurped his share right from the tap.

[phuketruski]

i drink tap water , cook and clean with tap water and im still here .

Many people with low immune systems who cannot do tap/reverse osmosis water.

The 30 year old Thai model dumped you already huh?

i got to keep busy while shes out making 70000 baht at work.

[aronp1]

Water machine 12L 8฿

[louse1953]

One advantage of living in a house is water tanks,free forever.

[louse1953]

I know of a guy who tried to save on water but at the other end,he would not allow his gf to flush the toilet in other to save water(money)

I do not know if he was cheap/broke or just an idiot.

No,he was probably Australian.Water is scarce and expensive where we come from.We have a saying"if it's yellow,let it mellow,if it's brown,flush it down.Thailand has a drought situation and if we all did our little bit,there would be a bit more to go around.There will be a war about water one day,maybe in this region.

[bazza40]

I became severely ill on the two occasions that I drank deep water well in the villiage that I live in. Being a bit dumb, I did dot think to boil this water. After seeing my two stage exit of all bodily fluids at the same time, my family only drinks bottled water now. Costing me a small fortune. So is there a small chlorine tablet available in Thailand that kills all bacteria and viruses and the chlorine and can be dispelled by leaving it in a fridge for a period of time?

A pharmacy should have them, although I've not tried. Dirt cheap through Amazon, British army ration packs contained massive strips of them and they're powerful: designed to work with manky cold water in no time, so warm non-turbid water and some time I reckon one tablet in 5 litres would probably be okay. I doubt you'd get it out, but then you quickly can't taste it. People who drink chlorinated water think that non-chlorinated water tastes funny.

Chlorine will work with bacteria and viruses. It will not work with oocytes such as giardia or cryptosporidia, these organisms survive chlorination, which is why America with extensive chlorination is one of the countries where giardia is endemic.

The best possible form of disinfection is by boiling water. Nothing survives that, and you get the added bonus that chlorine and chloramines are distilled off in the boiling process.

[louse1953]

Don't now what water costs, get it from my corner store along with a bunch of other stuff and the wife takes care of that. Never costs enough to worry about. Will I get rich saving on the cost of water?

Does she hold your hand when you cross the road also?

[anon4546543]

Thank you bazza40. Also to louse1953. I was bought up on that philosophy. Every drop counts and recycling and conservation of water will help mitigate the disaster that appears imminent. I am in the process of diverting shower water onto the plants that are in my yard. Most Thais have no concept, most do not realise that water is limited and precious.

[elgenon]

I think that the water vending machines are OK if (and it's a big if) they are serviced regularly and correctly. Most people in Thailand would agree that maintenance is not a strong point here, and I am one of them.

So I have now switched to having the big 20l blue water bottles delivered for 40B (50B with tip). All round this seems like the most reliable, simple and cheap option to me.

And you are sure about the quality of those? Who makes sure they contain what they are supposed to?

[smotherb]

Don't now what water costs, get it from my corner store along with a bunch of other stuff and the wife takes care of that. Never costs enough to worry about. Will I get rich saving on the cost of water?

Does she hold your hand when you cross the road also?

If I needed it she would. She is a very capable woman, I wouldn't want a woman who was not.