Some people just like the feel of the water on their skin and could stay in the shower for as long as ten minutes. Quite obviously, you'd use more water if you stay longer in the shower. The second group of people want to spend as little time in the shower as possible. Once their hair is shampoo free, they can get rid of soap suds from the rest of the body using a towel. Question is, would you take shorter showers to save money on water bills?
Honestly, I don't think too too much on this one. My water bill is the cheapest of my utilities and I don't think I shower excessively. That being said, check this out: Log In I realized from this that it's actually the energy cost for heating the water that tacks on the bulk of the cost. I like my showers really hot, so even if I'm not necessarily in there long, I could still be tacking on a nice chunk of cost. Hmm.
Most of the areas I've lived in, the owner pays for water but the downside is that hot showers are limited. Anything beyond 5-7 minutes results in the water gradually getting cooler. I've learned the art of 30-second showers for when I wash my hair.
Water is included in my rent, but I don't take super long showers because the hot water runs out pretty fast. The water heater for our apartment is a small unit under the kitchen sink.
I take in-between showers myself. I definitely think some people go overboard and spend far too much time in the shower, which can be costly. However, I wouldn't sacrifice washing my body properly just to save a few bucks. In high school, I had a teacher who used to say that her kids were only allowed to take one shower a day. I've always taken two myself -- maybe not every day, but I'll usually take a longer one in the morning and will then just jump in the shower to "wash off" in the evenings. I can't imagine not being able to get in the shower if I wanted to.
I try not to stay too long in the shower because since we are using a heater it can adds up a lot into my electricity bill. I am not worried about the quantity of water I use as water is very cheap in my place but electricity cost is getting more and more expensive and I can't let my bill to keep getting higher every month.
I never really think about how long I stay in the shower but now that I think about it I guess I take pretty long showers. Perhaps I should start cutting down my shower time to reduce my water bills..
I've actually started to do this to see if it would save money. I usually can take 20 minute/half an hour showers and I am one of those people that likes to feel the water on me but I figure, let's see if I can save a few bucks by taking a shorter shower. We'll see.
I never shower for more than 15-20 minutes and I always use cold water to save some money on the electricity bill. You don't need to shower for more than 30 minutes a day, I don't think it makes a difference.
I dont even shower. I take the most feminine baths you could think of (besides lighting candles I dont do that). I use bath salts all the time Its good for you. I like to soak and relax in the tub. Somewhere along the way this became a girly things to do. Not to me it isnt
Yes I don't see anything wrong in taking shorter showers just to save on water bills. I do tend to stay quite a bit in the bathroom because I sort of enjoy the peace and quiet in the room when I'm taking a bath, so the more I stay I guess the more water I consume. So I won't mind rushing my baths to save money.
What I actually do is just turn the water off between washing my hair and stuff.... Not so much because I wanted to save money, but because I got used to it from taking a shower in the gym... There's these automatic showers there, that will cut off after some time. I don't really know how much money this saves me though...
We live in the tropics and we don't have water heaters. When it's unusually cold, we just heat water in a pail and use that for our bath. It's a different story during summer though, I usually take 2 showers a day when it gets really hot. But overall, I don't think I would also skimp on cleaning my body just to save money.
yep same here . I am currently in South Asia where half the year it is over 90 F and the whole year over 60 F (in my location central India). Now I take long showers. Around 20 minutes minimum. But the sun heats the water so its always hot. And if you are hot then you dont turn on the water heater and get a nice cool shower with lukewarm water. In the winter it is a bit of a problem as the water gets cold but I usually am able to still tolerate it. LOL to saving money on water. There is no charge for water where I live
When I take a shower, it's mainly to save time if the shower is rushed. The difference between 5 more minutes in the shower really doesn't effect me. I live in an apartment and the water is billed at a flat rate of 20.00 a month included with the rent.
A five minute shower is all I really need, it allows me to get on with other activities. I have friends who shower for a length of half hour or more and I just don't understand why it takes them so long - I do have my theories. When I ask they usually just say it's for pleasure or something, but we all know that efficiency is key! You can be squeaky clean in less than ten minutes. Save water, buy the scientists some time.
Water is the largest of the utility bills in my house so I am always looking to cut those costs without compromising lifestyle too much. The shower one is interesting, I never really notice how long I am in there, neither my wife(although it will not go down well asking her to hurry up), I am going to monitor this and see if I can cut it down for sure. I think the dishwasher is another massive water user, it takes around 2 hours to complete a whole cycle, that has to be using a lot of water I am sure.
My trick is to have a bath. I also encourage all my guests to do the same, as water and electricity get wasted quickly during a 10-20 minute shower. I grew up in a very hot place where drought is common, so I am quite aware how precious water really is. So much so, that I save most of my grey water for my plants or cleaning the house.
Water is really cheap. You can't believe how incredibly cheap it actually is. In my country, a cubic metre (1000 litres) costs 0.5€ or about $0.70. You can figure out that you couldn't really save a lot of money taking shorter showers. That being said, the heater might use a lot of electricity, which would mean a higher electricity bill. I'm not sure about the cost of that, but it shouldn't be too much. There are definitely better ways to cut on your expenses. You could try turning off your computer whenever you don't use it. Same goes for the TV, radio etc. While you can't turn off your fridge, cleaning it regularly and mostly empty reduces your energy bill.
I just started conserving water by taking a shorter shower and will look forward to seeing how much money is saved. I stand in the shower and lather up with the water off and not have it running to run. I feel cleaner that way anyway actually probably because of the hard water not being as much on my skin.
