FAMILIES might not know that a common mistake made while brushing your teeth is adding up to £60 a year onto your bills.

The next time you're brushing your pearly whites, make sure to turn the tap off and not leave the water running.

That's because energy firm Octopus estimates it could be adding up to an extra £60 a year onto your bills.

Water costs roughly £1 for 1,000 litres, but depending on how long – and how fast the tap is running, you could be wasting tens of thousands of litres unnecessarily, which all adds up.

It could help to lower your bills at a time when Brits are suffering under a cost of living crunch.

Some are having to put 50% more of their weekly budget towards gas and electricity costs as the ongoing energy crisis has pushed higher prices onto customers.

While the price of food, fuel and transport has rocketed too, with the surge helped by rising inflation.

But there are ways to try and beat the hikes as much as you can and save money on essential bills.

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Not only should you be turning the tap off when you're brushing your teeth, you should be sure to fix it if it's leaking.

In a list of energy saving tips on Octopus's website, fixing a dripping tap could save you up to £5.50 a year.

That means if you had four dripping taps – two in the kitchen and two in the bathroom – you could be quite literally be washing £22 a year down the drain.

If it's a leaky hot water tap, the cost will be even greater because it's adding money onto your energy bills as the boiler warms the water.

A hot water tap left dripping could add as much as £490 onto your gas bill, according to TapWarehouse.

There are YouTube tutorials from DIY shops like B&Q on how to fix a dripping tap – but if you're not confident to do it yourself, call an engineer out.

How else can I lower my bills?

It's not just your water bill you can save cash on.

Make sure you follow these tricks to pay less on your energy bills too.

If you have a boiler, make sure it's dialled to the right settings and that it is working properly.

If you have a combi-boiler – which is the most common type used by Brits – then make sure it is re-set to 50C for hot water and 55C for heating.

One savvy saver saved nearly £100 in just a month by changing her settings using the simple trick.

Not using a tumble dryer could put some well-earned cash back into your pocket.

Tumble dryers tend to cost about £60 a year to run according to Repair Aid, so putting out your clothes to dry on an airer instead could be worth the savings.

Dialling your thermostat down by just one degree could save you as much as £55.

It will hardly make a difference to your home's temperature – and you can always reach for a jumper to ward off the chill.

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