Close the drain on your tub before turning on the water to fill it.
Here’s a very simple tip for saving water that I never did until it was pointed out to me: when filling the tub for a bath, close the drain before turning on the water. I find that most people adjust the water running out of the faucet to the temperature that they want it to be before closing the drain. You can save water by closing it immediately and realizing that the small amount of freezing cold water that comes out of the faucet when you start it will be completely offset by the warm water your run afterward resulting in perfect temperature bath water with less wasted water.
Along those same lines, when filling a pot to boil on the stove, unless the recipe absolute demands it, don’t wait for the water to get hot before putting it in the pot, just fill with whatever comes out of the tap. Put a lid on the pot while you are bringing the water to boil and you will never notice the time difference from starting with warm water or cold water.
Turn off the water while brushing your teeth to save water
Turn the water off while brushing your teeth. We’ve gotten into this habit so completely that I almost can’t believe that I ever used to let it run. Why would I have done such a thing? Who knows? I do know that one time I left the water running for a few seconds because I was going to fill my cup after putting down my toothbrush and my 6 year-old shut it off for me saying “Don’t waste water Mommy!”
Bathe the children together – once my infant was able to sit up on his own, I actually used his big sister – then 5 – in stead of an infant chair or bathtub. I plopped them in the tub together and she helped me out by being another set of eyes and hands keeping him safe in the tub!
Consider showering with your child. Turns out that now that my son is 18 months he LOVES taking a shower! I stick him at my feet, close the drain to give him some warm water to sit in, and let him play in the tub while I shower. He gets bathed a lot more often (the allergist wants him to get baths more often), I get more frequent showers and it uses less water than giving him a bath alone. I’ve found that he likes to sit and play in the tub while I towel off and brush my teeth. Then I put on a bathrobe while I get him dried and dressed. Turns out it’s a lot easier than I ever imagined!
Do you have a favorite tip for saving water? Share it with us here!
Happy Greening,
Alicia
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As an additional note on the pot-filling, you should always use cold tap water instead of hot water for cooking/drinking as hot water runs the risk of containing more lead. I hate heating cold water to a boil instead filling the pot with the faucet turned to hot (seems like you could save some energy), but this is a case where I think there is small but real risk and prefer to choose the possibly less-environmentally friend option in favor of the health of our family, especially since we live in an old house with old pipes. Here’s what the EPA says about lead in drinking water: http://water.epa.gov/drink/info/lead/lead1.cfm
Thanks for the water-saving tips! Keep ’em coming! 🙂
Nowadays, it’s important to save our natural resources, especially water. It’s our source of life and without it we won’t live a healthy lifestyle.
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