I feel that conserving water is a naturally a much easier task than conserving energy. You can see many of the ways that you use water each day – you know if you are taking showers that are obscenely long or if you are starting the dishwasher or washer when it is only halfway full. However, if you are curious about how much water you are using, take my quiz here. Since every drop counts when it comes to water conservation, becoming more aware and making small changes every day can have a huge impact overall.
Read on to discover my 10 favorite ways to conserve water today. Don’t worry, these are super simple!
1. Dishwasher Dreams
When it comes to using your dishwasher, make sure that it is turned to the water-saving mode and that the dryer setting is turned off. It is also a good idea to scrap your dishes before loading them, and only run the dishwasher when it is completely full.
2. Hit the Car Wash
If your area has an eco-friendly car wash, hit it instead of washing over 50 gallons of water down the drain when you wash your car at home.
3. Reuse Your Water
I pack a fresh water bottle in Eben’s backpack every day before school. Many days, that water bottle comes home with water left in it. Instead of pouring that water down the drain, I use it to fill up the dog’s water dishes or to water our houseplants. I also do this with any partially filled water glasses that I find on my family’s nightstands every morning.
4. Use a Glass a Day
Our family likes to reuse our drinking glasses all day long. There is no reason to get a clean glass every single time we need a drink of water and it saves me from having to do a ton of dishes each day!
5. Go Native
When it comes to choosing plants for your home and yard, consider ones that are native to your area and that don’t require an excess amount of water. I also love the idea of having edible gardens and landscaping in yards over water-guzzling grass.
6. Turn It Off
When you are brushing your teeth, rubbing your hands with soap while washing them or shampooing your hair, turn the water off in between. Just think of the water that you will conserve!
7. Get a New Shower Head
If you don’t have an eco-friendly shower head, it’s time to upgrade, it could save you up to 90 gallons of water a day. Can you imagine that?
8. Don’t Wash It
You don’t have to wash your pants, shorts or sweaters every single time that you wear them. I will wear my shorts several times before I launder them, not only does this save a ton of water, but my clothes last much longer too!
9. Choose Efficient Appliances
When you are in the market for a new dishwasher or washing machine, choose an Energy Star model that can save up to 18 gallons of water per load.
10. Reuse Your Linens
Instead of using a new towel every time you take a shower or hit the pool or beach, reuse the same towel for at least a week. I also only wash our pillowcases weekly, they seem to get dirtier than our sheets – our sheets will get laundered less often.
What is your favorite simple way to conserve water?
