Your water bill probably went up and you might not even know why. Water costs across the country have climbed an average of 24% since 2019, and for families in the suburbs, those increases quietly stack up month after month alongside everything else going up in the grocery cart and the gas pump.

The good news? Most of the fixes are fast, cheap, and don’t require a contractor.

Start by getting an honest look at what your household is actually using. Check your water meter on a regular weekday morning before anyone showers or starts the dishwasher, then check it again after a few hours of normal activity. According to sustainability expert Marcus Griswold, who runs the website Little Green Myths, “The average person uses 82 gallons of water a day at home, so you can use this as a baseline.” If your numbers are running dramatically higher, you’ve got room to work with. To figure out how much a specific appliance or fixture uses, pull out the owner’s manual or do a quick timed test: see how long it takes to fill a one-gallon jug from your showerhead or faucet, then do the math.

Leaks are where families tend to lose the most water without realizing it. A faucet that drips just once per second loses 3,000 gallons over the course of a year. A leaky toilet flapper, a tiny rubber piece most people never think about, can drain 200 gallons a day right out of your tank and straight into your sewer bill. Plumbing expert Caleb Caviness of AryCo home services told us that most homeowners underestimate how much a small leak costs them. “Fixing them can save way more than shortening their showers by a few minutes,” Caviness said, “and most can be fixed with $10 in parts and 15 minutes of DIY work, so not fixing them is literally like flushing money down the drain.”

Finding hidden leaks is straightforward. Don’t use any water in the house for at least two hours, then watch your water meter. If the dial moves, something is leaking somewhere, and it’s time to investigate. Check under sinks, around the toilet base, along outdoor irrigation lines. Your insurance company might even offer a leak monitoring service worth asking about.

In the bathroom, four habits alone can make a noticeable dent in your monthly usage.

Turn the faucet off while you’re brushing your teeth. Pause the shower while you’re lathering up. Set a timer so shower length doesn’t creep up unnoticed. And if your toilet is an older, less efficient model, dropping a full water bottle or a brick into the tank can reduce the water volume used per flush without any plumbing work at all.

There’s a bonus here that a lot of families don’t think about. Kate Colarulli of CleanChoice Energy points out that water and energy bills are connected in ways that add up fast. “It takes a surprising amount of energy to pump, heat, treat and move water,” Colarulli said, “so simple steps can add up.” Every hot shower you shorten isn’t just saving water; it’s taking pressure off your water heater and trimming your power costs at the same time.

The kitchen deserves a closer look, too.

Skipping the pre-rinse on dishes is one of the easiest changes your family can make. Griswold’s research on water-wasting habits puts the number at as much as 6,000 gallons wasted per year just by rinsing dishes before loading them into the dishwasher. Modern dishwashers are built to handle food residue directly, so scraping and loading is all you need. Running a full load instead of a partial one matters, too. Using the dishwasher rather than hand washing dishes can save upward of 2,400 gallons a year. When you do wash something by hand, plug the sink rather than letting water run the whole time.

None of these changes require a home renovation or a weekend project. You don’t need to rip out your landscaping or buy a rainwater collection system to see real savings. Start with the dripping faucet under the bathroom sink you’ve been ignoring. Fix the toilet flapper that makes noise every 20 minutes. Skip the pre-rinse on tonight’s dinner dishes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program estimates that the average family can save 13,000 gallons of water and about $130 per year just by swapping out inefficient fixtures for certified ones.

Small consistent changes in a household of four will show up on your bill by the end of summer, and that’s money that stays in your pocket.