This week I focused on my water usage.I find that I turn the water on full blast for just about everything. I do keep the water off when brushing my teeth and washing the dishes, turning it on only to rinse. But now the task is to remember to keep it at a slower flow.
Also, it takes 30-60 seconds to get hot water in this house, which is a tremendous waste of water, so I've been washing out our plastic milk gallons and letting the cold water fill it till it turns hot. I will then use this water for plants or keep a gallon in the fridge so we have nice cold water whenever we want it.
I read in The Green Book that I should plug the drain in the tub before turning on the water when the boys take their bath at night. I traditionally have let the water go down the drain while I wait for it to get to the right temp. Now I'm plugging it immediately and just letting the warm water run longer before putting the boys in so the cold water has mellowed out for them.
My next plan is to place a plastic bottle filled with water into our toilet tank. According to It's Easy Being Green, with the displaced water, we could save thousands of gallons of water a year.
And The Green Book says if you flush just one less time per day, you'll save 4.5 gallons of water - as much as the average person in Africa uses for a whole day of drinking, cooking, bathing & cleaning! Can you believe that? My goodness, how we take water for granted in this country.
If you have tips for saving water, I'd love to hear them.
Oh, and I just wanted to mention that I got both of the above books at PaperbackSwap.com. I love that site!
Great tips! In fact ... would you mind if I use some of them for a challenge (which I'll give you credit for)?
ReplyDeleteHere's something we do ... the closer one gets to the hot water tank, the faster the hot water flows. We have two bathrooms and used to take showers in our master bath ... but then noticed that the shower in the other bath gets hot water almost immediately. It makes sense but I just never thought about it. So, we've moved to that bathroom.
Another idea for saving water is the "if it's yellow, let it mellow ... if it's brown, flush it down" idea. At 4.5 gallons per flush, if one let's it "mellow" ... that can really add up. It sounds a bit "icky" but, in reality, it's not.
Great post ... thank you!
Small Footprints