Pay attention to household expenses: This is how much you pay to shower, do laundry, and charge your cell phone

We spend a lot of money on showers. As with most things in the house, you pay for water and electricity. An average shower head consumes 12 liters of water per minute. The price of a cubic meter of drinking water (1000 liters) in the city of Zurich is 1.75 francs, which is around the average price in Switzerland. With seven minutes of shower time, this equates to 14.7 centimeters.

Then there are electricity costs. Cold showers save money because energy is needed to heat the water to the desired temperature. The energy required to heat one liter to 40 degrees is 0.0375 kilowatt hours (kWh). The average electricity price in Switzerland increased to 32.14 centimeters/kWh in 2024. This causes electricity costs of 101.2 centimeters. So in total we spend 1.16 francs on a shower.

Still, the money will be most worth it. It’s better to pay than to stink. So, have you ever thought of shortening your shower time?

The big question remains: Which is cheaper, showering or bathing? One tub holds an average of 150 liters. This leads to a water cost of 26.25 centimeters. The electricity cost of this filling amount is 181 kuruş. Relaxing in the bathtub costs 2.07 francs in total. So taking a shower is much cheaper.

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However, those who take long showers also get their money’s worth. If you stay in the shower for more than 14.5 minutes, it is better to take a bath.

Luckily, flushing the toilet and washing your hands afterwards isn’t that big of a deal. When we wash our hands thoroughly, we use about two liters of water.

The water consumption of the toilet was also added to this. Cisterns vary greatly. New toilets need an average of five liters. Older people sometimes have more than twice as much. This doesn’t have much impact on costs. With the modern cistern it is 1.23 cents, with the old cistern it is 2.1 cents.

Tenants know this: If you want to do laundry, you have to insert a card or key or insert a coin into the laundry room. There’s a good reason for this. Washing your clothes isn’t cheap. Here too, the costs consist of electricity and water prices.

According to home appliance specialist Bosch, an average of 50 liters of water is required for a washing process, which corresponds to 8.75 centimeters. Electricity costs vary greatly depending on the type of wash cycle. In total, washing at 40 degrees costs 28 cents, while washing at 60 degrees costs just under 57 cents.

So, if you do not wash at such high temperatures, you will save more than half.

Common glasses vary greatly in energy efficiency. Older models with energy efficiency class A or B require approximately 4 kWh of electricity for the dry cycle. This costs only 1.29 francs.

Newer dryers with energy efficiency class A+ or A++ consume less than half the energy, at around 1.8 kWh. One drying cycle costs only 0.58 francs.

Washing dishes in a machine is not only more convenient than washing dishes by hand, but also more environmentally friendly and cheaper. You need less water and therefore less electricity. It is approximately 15 liters of water. In total, it costs 67 cents to wash the dishes once.

Also important: If possible, always use energy-saving mode and load the dishwasher completely.

Good news for TV and movie fans. If you need hours of television, you don’t need to dig deep into your wallet. Almost no TV needs more than 0.1 kWh per hour. 10 cents is enough for a three-hour movie night.

The mobile phone charges almost for free. Even if you’re always annoyed about how quickly the battery drains, the phone doesn’t need a lot of power. Charging an iPhone 14 Pro from zero to 100 percent costs just 0.39 cents. If you charge your mobile phone once a day, you pay CHF 1.40 per year.