water conservation

How to Shower Less (and Still Feel Clean)

Anna Newell Jones — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:36:34 +0000

You might be wondering, "Why in the world would I want to shower less?" Well, there are a bunch of reasons. (See also: Save Hundreds by Getting Yourself Out of Hot Water)

Maybe you're traveling, and you just can't shower as much as you usually do.
Maybe you've decided your hair looks better with a little grease in it.
Maybe it's all about saving a little extra money on your water bill.
Maybe you want to help the environment by conserving water.
Maybe you're too busy to shower!
Maybe you just had a baby and showering has fallen into the "luxury" category of life.
Maybe you work in a cubicle and don't work up a sweat, so you don't really need to shower that much.

No matter the reason, if you want to shower less and still feel clean, this is how you do it.

Do a Bird-Bath

A bird-bath is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You stand in front of your sink filled with water and soap up your rag and then get to cleaning. You will forgo your shower, and you will feel clean.

Use Dry Shampoo

Dry shampoo is great because if you have fine or oily hair you can spritz in on your head, and then all the greasiness instantly goes away. There is the added benefit in that it thickens your hair and gives it texture. Plus it smells nice, so that's a treat too.

Take a Dry Bath

Yes, a dry bath. I haven't ever tried this before, but it looks like it might be worth a shot.

Wait Another Day

Extend your showers out an extra day, and gradually try extending them out longer and longer until you can't stand it anymore. You'll build up your tolerance, and you'll shake your shower-a-day habit.

Take Shorter Showers

Pretend you are on a game show, time yourself, and try to beat your best time. Thirty second shower anyone? I challenge you to try it.

Collect the Water

Let the water collect in the tub from your shower and use it for your next bath. It will obviously be cold by then, but since we're coming up on the summer month's, maybe you will be able to get the added benefit of cooling off, too.

Perfume and Deodorant

If you smell clean, you are half way there…at least to some people.

Baby Powder

Douse your stinky (or potentially stinky) bits with baby powder. Be sure to rub it in and shake the excess off before going out in public, so you don't look too powdery or "George Washington-y."

Hang With Stinkier People

If you're the least smelly person in the room then, really, how could you not feel clean?

Have you ever considered showering less for personal, financial, or environmental reasons? If so, what tips do you have for showering less while still feeling clean?

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This article is from Anna Newell Jones of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

50+ Ways to Save Water

Max Wong — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:36:34 +0000

You know you live in a First World country when you have the luxury of flushing your toilet with drinking water.

Even though most Americans don’t spend a good part of their day worrying about accessing fresh water, water in this country is growing scarcer and more expensive with each passing year. Even if you live in a rainy climate, you can do the planet and your pocket book a favor by conserving water. (See also: Save Hundreds by Getting Yourself Out of Hot Water)

In the Kitchen

To avoid wasting water from a running tap, collect it in a bottle or Brita pitcher and chill it in the refrigerator for drinking. Or, while waiting for the water to warm up, use the water to rinse dirty dishes, water the plants, or wash produce.

Instead of using the garbage disposal, compost your fruit and vegetable scraps. (In turn, adding compost to your yard will help the soil retain moisture).

Only use the dishwasher when you have a full load. Instead of pre-rinsing dishes in the sink, use the rinse and hold setting on your dishwasher.

If you can afford to get an energy star dishwasher, do it. The best dishwashers and washing machines only use four gallons of water per load. Less water than you’d use hand-washing. (See also: The 5 Best Dishwashers)

If you are hand-washing dishes, use the least amount of detergent possible to reduce the amount of water you then have to use to rinse the dishes.

Steam or microwave veggies instead of boiling them. If your recipe calls for boiling vegetables, only use enough water to cover them, and put a lid on your saucepan. Use the water leftover from boiling vegetables as a basis for homemade stock.

Make one-pot meals. Fewer dishes means less water for washing up.

Defrost food in the refrigerator overnight instead of using hot running water. (This is the best food-safe method). If you are in a rush, thaw your food in the microwave.

In the Bathroom

Don’t let the water run while you are brushing your teeth or soaping up your hands.

Instead of rinsing it in running water, clean your razor by swishing it in a cup of water.

Install a low-flow shower head and/or an aerator.

Make sure to insulate your hot water pipes. This avoids wasting water by cutting down the time it takes for hot water to flow through and saves energy.

Turn down your hot water thermostat. In addition to protecting you from being scalded by accident, adding cold water to cool down extremely hot water wastes energy and water.

Take shorter showers. Set a timer so you don’t cheat. Turn off the tap while shaving, soaping up, or waiting for conditioner to do its thing.

Use a bucket to collect water while waiting for the water to heat up. Use this water to force flush your toilet, shave your legs, or mop the floor.

Bathe your kids together or reuse your bathwater to wash your kids. Or reuse the kids’ bathwater to wash your dog. Or...you get the picture.

If you can’t afford a low-flow toilet, put a brick to your toilet tank until you can afford to add a dual flush system or a flow restrictor to your existing toilet. Also, check to make sure that your tank isn’t leaking. To check for leaks, add some food coloring to the tank water. If your tank is leaking, you’ll see the dye in the toilet bowl before you flush.

Flush your toilet less often. If this sounds disgusting to you, know that in drought areas of Australia, the government is encouraging men to pee in the garden to conserve water. Avoid using the toilet to dispose of hair, bugs, goldfish, or other random waste items that can be composted or thrown in the trash instead.

In the Laundry

Use the least amount of detergent that you can. In addition to making your clothes last longer, your washer will not have to work as hard to wash all the soap out. If your clothes still smell soapy when they come out of the wash, you are using too much detergent.

Only run full loads of laundry. If you have a small household, consider sharing laundry duty with your friends or neighbors to ensure every load is a full load.

In the Yard

Check the weather forecast. If it’s going to rain in the next four days, let nature water your plants for you.

Use a broom to sweep walkways and driveways instead of hosing them down with water.

Use leftover bath water to water non-food plants, wash the car, or clean the siding.

Plant drought-resistant ornamental plants.

Use the Square Foot Garden system or permaculture methods of under-planting and inter-planting tall vegetables with shorter vegetables to self-mulch. In addition to growing a tremendous amount of food in a small space, you’ll also save on water.

Don’t water your garden at high noon, in addition to losing more water to evaporation, you run the risk of burning your plants. (Water beads act like little magnifying glasses). Water in the morning or in the evening when it’s cooler.

Add soil amendments like compost to your soil that will help it retain water. Mulch your garden to keep water from evaporating quickly.

Water the base of your plants using a watering can, a soaker hose, or a drip system instead of watering the tops of the plants with a sprinkler or hose.

Install a rain water tank or divert water from your gutters into the garden instead of into the storm drains.

Replace your lawn with low-water plants.

If your neighborhood covenant requires you to maintain a lawn, install a low-water grass variety. Deep soak your lawn once a week to encourage deep root growth instead of watering for less time more often. Also, make sure that your lawn needs to be watered before turning on the hose. If the grass springs back after you step on it, you don’t need to water.

Taller grass holds more water than short grass so wait a bit between mows. Short lawns will burn because they don’t have leaf protection. Don’t mow your lawn to less than one inch in height. (See also: The 6 Best Lawn Mowers)

Aerate your lawn in the summer to help it absorb more water quickly.

When planting a garden, try to group plants by their watering needs. Also, sparsely planted areas are more difficult to water efficiently. Try to plant in the spring or autumn when it’s cooler.

Avoid buying outdoor toys that require constantly running water.

How much water do you save every year by conserving water? How many dollars do you save? Please share your favorite water saving tips in the comments section.

This article is from Max Wong of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

How to Conserve Water by Harvesting Rain or Snow

Xin Lu — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:00:20 +0000

When I was young many families in my town in China had a large jug or tank in the courtyard that collected rain water. In my family the water is usually used to water plants or raise goldfish. Some families also used the water to wash their clothes or toilets. In some areas the water is also used for drinking after boiling or other treatment. Recently rainwater harvesting is becoming more popular in America and states such as Arizona and New Mexico are adopting laws that mandate rainwater harvesting for new buildings. Here are some tips on how you can harvest rain or snow and conserve water.

The simplest way to collect rainwater is to just put large containers outside on the roof or in the yard. This is basically what we did in China. However, you would need a large surface area to collect enough usable water. Another simple method to collect rainwater is to use some rain barrels. These large barrels with a spigot are commercially available. They collect the rain water that come from a roof's rain gutter or downspout and multiple barrels can be linked for more water storage. If you are the do-it-yourself type, here is a great video from HGTV on how to make your own rain barrel.

In areas with snow, it is possible to harvest quite a bit of water every winter by simply saving snow in large tanks or barrels. Once the snow melts you will have a good amount of water stored up. This is fairly simple to do as long as you have space for the containers. If you have to shovel snow out of your driveway anyway then it does not hurt to save some of it for later use.

If you do start to collect rain or snow as a water supply then you should have some covering on these large containers so that pets and kids will not fall into them. Also, you should check with your locality to see the legality of collecting and using rainwater. Apparently in Utah and Washington State, it is illegal to collect water from the roof unless the owner of the roof also owns the water rights on the ground. In Colorado rainwater collection was just recently legalized. In Portland you would need a permit for the indoor use of rainwater.

Generally, you should not drink the water you collect because there are various forms of pollution and dirt as rain falls onto various surfaces. It is possible to set up a treatment system that cleanses the water to make it drinkable, but the systems could be costly. The most economic use of collected water is probably gardening since plants thrive on rain anyway. The collected water can also used for the following purposes:

Washing vehicles or buildings
Flushing or washing toilets
Mopping the floor
Laundry
Recharge the aquifer by redirecting water from storm drains

Drinkable water is actually a very precious resource and Americans often waste it because it just does not seem very expensive. Having your own rainwater supply will probably not cut your water bills significantly unless you invest in a full treatment system and stop using municipal water all together. Even if you do not go to that extreme, using stored rainwater is great for the environment and would definitely help in times of drought when water usage restrictions are in place.

More resources:

The Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting

Harvesting, Storing, and Treating Rainwater for Domestic Indoor Use

This article is from Xin Lu of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Saving the Planet - One Drop at a Time

Nora Dunn — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:46:41 +0000

More and more catastrophic storms. Global warming. Droughts and floods. It seems that we have entered an era of extremes in planet earth’s saga.

With global environmental issues becoming bigger and harder to ignore, there are things we all can work on to help do our part. You may argue that we should stop making “the little guy” pay and change their habits when it is really the big corporations who exponentially consume that should be held to a higher standard.

But truly – if we are to continue to foster a planet for future generations to enjoy, we have to start somewhere. Being an example and teaching our children how to conserve resources is the first step to getting the “big guys” to listen; some of our children will eventually be in those positions of power and influence to enforce greater changes than we could ever imagine. All we have to do is give them the proper building blocks.

I am currently traveling through Australia, a country that has suffered terrible drought for over a decade now. So here in Oz, water conservation is not a nice thing to do for the environment; it is a necessity.

Here are a few ways you can save the planet, one drop at a time:

2 Minute Showers

You heard me: two minutes. Public showers at some campgrounds in Australia actually have timers. If you aren’t done in the allotted time, you will be one soapy dude for the rest of the day.

At home, you don’t necessarily have to complete your shower in two minutes. But see if you can run the water for just two minutes by turning it on and off as needed. Myscha wrote a great article about how to get the greatest use out of the least amount of water while sudsing up.

Brushing Teeth

I’m sure it goes without saying, but if you aren’t tuned in yet, let’s get with the program! Turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth, okay? It involves no sacrifice other than the laborious action of turning a tap on and off a few more times.

Washing Dishes

For anybody who has camped and had to haul their dishwashing water from a nearby river or tap or wash using a sink that’s way too small, you are already a good chunk of the way towards washing your dishes in a water-friendly way. Every kitchen is set up differently for washing dishes, so techniques for how to get those plates clean while using the least amount of water will vary.

One technique I have found useful is to fill the sink with rinse water (not too much!), and rinse dishes creatively instead of running the tap to do so. Use glasses and bowls to scoop up the water and pour it over the awkward dishes, killing two birds (or rather, rinsing two dishes) in one shot. And at the end, if your rinse water isn’t too grimy, leave it in the sink to soak your next set of dirty dishes.

For those with dish washers, seriously consider cutting down or eliminating your usage. It is a pig on both power and water, while ultimately being totally unnecessary for survival. At the very least, only use it when it is absolutely fully packed. Even then…

Watering Your Garden

Using a hose to water your garden is the perfect way to waste a ton of water. Instead, try using a bucket and scoop. You will concentrate your watering efforts on exactly the plants and spots that need watering, and you’ll get better exercise hauling the bucket. In Australia, this is how even some commercial growers water their produce; so you can too.

If you are an avid floral gardener (and thus not able to consume the product of your watering efforts as with a veggie patch), consider the types of plants you are landscaping with. If you live in a dry climate and plant with a water-hungry plant, you are doing no favors to anybody and satisfying no more than your own sense of aesthetics. Try instead learning about drought-bed techniques, and planting things that do well even in dry conditions.

For those with a new property and a small patch of lawn, try not laying sod down at all. There are lots of grass-free landscaping techniques that are very attractive, virtually maintenance free, and dry as a bone.

If It’s Yellow, Let It Mellow

Do you have to flush the toilet every time you pee? Arguably, no. Ladies: don’t use a half a roll of toilet paper (one or two squares will do – this is also environmentally friendly) to wipe, and you can get lots of extra mileage out of a toilet flush without clogging the pipes.

Catch the drips

Most taps drip, even if very slowly. Think about all the taps you have; outside taps for hoses are the biggest culprits. Bathtubs are close followers. Catch those drips! It may not be aesthetically appealing to have a bowl or bucket under the tap, but at least perfectly potable water won’t be wasted.

Get Creative

Every time you turn on the tap, think about how you can either reduce your usage, or get some extra mileage out of it by reusing it. Some people water their gardens with their gray water (from washing dishes with biodegradable soap). Others install water-saving taps and pressure reducers. By calculating how every single drop of water gets used, you can actually turn water conservation into a creative exercise that is stimulating and even enjoyable! Present it as a challenge for the whole family to participate in. Put the right slant on it, and saving the planet – one drop at a time – can create a more sustainable world for us to live in, and actually be fun too.

This article is from Nora Dunn of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: