With water being one of the most valuable resources on earth, it is vital to save it and keep it from being discarded carelessly. Saving water while doing your chores can not only keep the planet happy, but it can also keep the earth happy. One way that I have found to keep my water bill low and affordable, is to reuse water. Think about how much water you could save by just plugging the shower head after you rinse away all the grime from your body. Most of us do not take a minute showers, but 5 minute ones, where the water at the end is mostly clean water that is flushed down the drain. By putting a bowl under your feet, you can use this water to clean your car, or water your plants. By doing something that is so simple, you can effectively save so much on your water bill.
Yeah, I use my shower water too 8) I also put buckets outside, so when it rains, I get free water to do whatever with . (Outdoor stuff such as watering plants, NOT DRINKING)
That is a great idea for showering. Another idea is when you have finished a glass of water and there is some left. Use it for water plantings, or use it in your fish tanks or in our case we use it for our salamanders and snakes. You can also clean with it.
You can save quite a bit of water by washing dishes in a basin. Only use clean water for the final rinse. Doing the dishes together can also save on the use of water but I suppose most of us already do that. Maybe even to the extreme like leaving the dishes in the sink for days until there aren't any clean dishes left to use before washing the dishes. That doesn't come under the heading of 'saving water'. That's just plain dirty laziness.
I don't think I could stand to leave my dishes inthe sink for days, haha! It would drive me crazy, and plus, I don't have a whole lot of dishes anyway. I would run out by the end of the day, literally. These are all pretty good ideas theoretically, but I don't use water for anything besides washing and cooking, and I'd rather not use recycled water to bathe or cook with.
When I go to clean the fish tank, I use water out of it to water my house plants. It provides the plants with a natural fertilizer at the same time I water them. I have never had to buy fertilizer for my house plants by doing this.
We do that as well, and our plants are thriving on it. Washing up water is also good for watering plants, as long as it's not greasy and it doesn't contain bleach. I don't stand in a bowl in the shower, because I shower in about 30 seconds flat. However, it takes a while for the water to run through hot, so I collect that in a bucket, and use it to flush the toilet, so it's re-using water, technically.
I have never thought about that, and I thought my idea of using a bucket under the shower was cleaver! We have a 30 gallon freshwater tank at our house, and a backyard full of plants that probably could do with some fertilizing. Now I know I won't have to buy any extra fertilizers and that it will all come naturally at no cost. Thank you! I do have one question, though. How often do you water your plants with the water from the fish tank, because I understand that too much fertilizer is also a bad thing, as it might burn the plant roots. Thanks for the great tip!
I have a 10 gallon tank with just one cichlid in it. I clean my fish tank once a week, so the house plants get weekly watering, too. I have never had them get over fertilized by doing this. I think the amount of water keeps the fertilizer that is in there fairly diluted. I have not used this on outside plants but it does work wonders for the house plants. I would think it should do the same for outside plants as well.
Awesome thread. My family has been saving water for years. It shows respect I think, simply to use the resources we have been given wisely and thoughtfully. WE catch water, purify water, recycle water...and now, we are even looking into finding an underground water source nearby. Using special water-saving shower-heads are also useful...so that less water comes out through the nozzle. Anyway, again...nice thread.
Depending on what type of dish soap you are using, you could also use the washing water on outside plants. My grandmother used homemade lye soap, and she would use the dirty water on the flower garden.
I have friends that do laundry daily since they wash their bath towels, the clothes they wear to work and kitchen towels at the end of each day. I noticed that, in their large washer, it only fills half the tub so I encouraged them to save water by doing laundry every other day. They said No because it would break up their routine of having a set of towels in the bathroom and a set in the washer plus they "know" everything in the house is clean. I find it strange that some people are so hooked on routine that they become wasteful. Yet, I'm sure there are others that do far worse, like leaving a hose running while washing a car or overwatering a garden.
People don't stop and think how much water they're using. It really starts to add up over the years. I try to take only one shower a day to conserve water. I know some people take more than one shower a day, and it just wastes water.
We lived somewhere that had times when water was more scarce, and we learned to pay attention to little things like turning the faucet off while brushing our teeth or while soaping up in the shower. And we reused shower and bath water in the garden.
My kids need to read some of these tips. They are so wasteful with water. Probably because they have no concept of paying a water bill. It drives me crazy when they are washing their cars and just toss the hose on the ground letting it run while they soap up the car or stand around talking.
Water is a renewable source. The water inside our planet is always the same, in effect, we never lose or gain water. Water that's evaporated comes down in rain, which is usually caught by the sea, ground, or water treatment facilities. Water flushed down drains is treated and re-used again. I don't ever worry about using too much water, only the bill that is associated with it.
Few posts have provided fantastic thoughts on how to reuse water. Many don't feel the need of it but soon they will realize when the water will move out of their domain. Most important is to drill the thought that we need to save water, once that is done we will find numerous ways to recycle or reuse them. Like I wash my vegetable & fruits in a bowl , Once done, the same water I use to water my plants.
Oh don't know bout the pets one. I just don't feel humane about giving my bathing water for them to drink or whatnot. It just seems cruel. Plus with all the soap and shampoo (etc.) that the water retains, it might be a bit toxic to them. But otherwise, it does seem like a good idea...
There are some great tips in this thread. I try to conserve as much water as I can and use recycled water for lot of activities. Here is an excellent resource that I found for water conservation tips Log In
We did try saving water once by using the water that comes out from the washing machine to water our plants during the summer, because it was so hot that time, and the plants were getting dehydrated already. Nowadays we don't practice doing that anymore, maybe because we don't find our water bill that high to make an effort to recycle water, which is good.
