Betty get yourself a rain barrel or one of those 250 gallon square water tanks, before they put the meters in. Fill them up before you have to pay for it. I got 2 of those 250 gallon tanks last year for $50.00 a piece from some of the local farmers. They use them with fertizer in them then usually sell them later. Maybe you could find one cheap too. Just be sure they had fertizer not pesticide in them. Then after you have used up your meter free water you can use them like real rain barrels. I think you can get them new from some of the online garden catalogs but they cost a bunch more. i just use a pond pump to pump the water out into my watering cans or buckets.
Here is one of mine. They aren't pretty so it's stashed behind the satellite dish and a jap maple that hid it in the summer.
Hope this helps.
