let you in a little secret, but don't tell him, please.

You’re secrets safe with us

Secrets safe with me Jura. I wouldn't get away with it though. My OH is always turning the lights off to save money... He even turns the oven off while the foods still cooking - silly bugger!

But, what's it worth, jura?

Of course, I've never done anything at all that I'd prefer dh not to know about.

well, you are one of the most likely Gnetter I might encounter with him - so, do keep stumm.

Mr Baggs used to want to top up our pond with tap water. I persuaded him it was not a good idea. My argument had nothing to do with the cost of water. Natural ponds do sometimes dry out; it's all part of how Nature works.

Since this persuasion, I've discovered that Scottish water, according to my dentist's receptionist, does not have added fluoride. I think English water companies do add fluoride.

Not to mention chlorine.

but won't he notice when the bill comes in?

Wont it have overflowed& made garden soggy,so he would have noticed?(might it have been he who left it on?) I would go with that,& deny all knowledge.

If you get rumbled you can always (try to) fall back on blaming the "pesky Garden Pixies!"........

It's worth a try, maybe?

Yes re chorine in English water. As a child I was a champion tadpole raiser in an old enamel washing up bowl, but attempts to teach DGC the tricks of the trade were a disaster and the frogspawn withered away. 2-3 years before I realised why.

My own shameful secret is sometimes leaving the back door unlocked all night. I'd certainly say it must have been him if found out.

Nanna2- our pond is at the bottom of the garden, and about 2 metre lower than the house, surrounded by an orchard, and it has been very dry- so no. As for the bill, he might notice it is higher than normal, but will just have to wonder why ;)

No chlorine in our tapwater- the village has a UV treatment plant.

Can you compensate in other ways, at least until the bill comes in? Cut own on how much water you use, bathwater, washing up, doing the laundry etc? Small bickkies I know, but might help a little. Good luck, we have all done something along these lines in the past, especially our OH's, there's plenty my OH doesn't tell me, I'm sure.

I confess I have our pond turned on 24/7 for ages now. Just a tiny amount as the bloody heron & foxes have made a hole on the liner quite a way down & as it is a large pond it would be impossible to repair without draining the whole thing. TBH I haven't noticed our water bill is affected so it can only be a small amount of water being used.
Last time we had to empty pond- about 15 years ago we had 40+ fish & they were in large plastic dustbins for 2 days so I really do not want to do that again!

ouch, can't fill the pond anyhow, as there are a couple of tears in the liner on a higher shelf. Will have to get a team of helpers this autumn to empty the pond, make a large new shelf on south side for the bats, and replace with new liner and replace + add more local limestone chunks around it and make a nes escape ladder. Will have to use one of our large troughs to put the mud from bottom with all the 1000s of dragonfly larvae and alpine newts if some are left in October- and replace asap. No fish, as we want out pond to be for wildlife only.

Ha ha that reminds me of the time I went away for a week DH was at home, when I got back I realised I’d left the iron on (use the spare bedroom for ironing) the whole week. It never worked right again and had to buy a new one. He still doesn’t know to this day.

We all have our little secrets. Probably why we stay married! It doesn’t do to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth all the time.
?

Thought I'd got away with a £50 parking fine outside Kew Gardens, came home, paid online and forgot about it. Barclaycard bill arrives and I exclaim 'why is Richmond on Thames Council taking money from our account'. Oops, secret out. He laughed.

We once put the water on to top up our pond, forgot about it and went to DDs for supper. Half way through pudding I said to DH ' Did you turn the water off?' No he said ' Did you? We made the half hour journey home in record time.The water was just spilling over the top into the garden . We now leave an obvious sign so we now the water is on. Luckily we are not on a meter .

winterwhite I've done that loads of times, not just forgotten to lock front/back door, I also leave the keys in. After DH died I went out for a day & came back to find I hadn't locked the front door. I also frequently forget to close windows at night.

I was always better at "covering up" than DH, he was far too honest

We recently spent 4 nights away from home in a relaxing, warm climate. It was warm when we got back too......I’d forgotten to disable the heating system.....it was left on the whole time ?

I’d say prove it was me if he noticed ?

In Scotland our water is not metered,. we still pay water rates. Maybe you need to move ???

If your quarterly bills are high why don't you pay monthly by direct debit? It's obviously the same amount annually but it doesn't seem so bad splitting it into 12 payments.

Sorry, I had to laugh

Oh I keep lots of things secret from DH, usually things I've bought or the price of them! Or the time I parked the car on the drive for 3 days with the windows down and the keys in it! Only discovered it when the postman mentioned it, fortunately to me and not DH.