How to Take Shorter Showers

💦 Time yourself. Not sure how long you shower now? Time yourself to get a baseline. The average American showers for eight minutes. With a standard flow showerhead that is about 30 gallons of water, and about half that with a low-flow showerhead. Taking even a few minutes off your shower time can save 5-10 gallons of water. Multiplied by all your showers in a year, that really adds up!  

💦 Set a goal.  After you figure out your baseline, set a goal to reduce your shower time by several minutes. Five minutes is a good goal, but if that is too much at first, start off with a goal of reducing 1-2 minutes per shower. Continue timing yourself until you get a feel for your new timing.   

💦 Be prepared.  One easy way to shorten your time in the shower is to be prepared. Have everything you need ready and on hand, so you won’t spend time looking for something after the hot water is already flowing. Soap, shampoo, loofah, towel—check!  

💦 Know your shower dial. If it takes a few tries to get the water flow and temperature just right, consider marking the valves to signal the correct position. Saving seconds can save gallons.  Don’t turn the water on until you are ready to get in. 

💦 Shave before you shower. A good way to shave while conserving water is to have a smaller amount of water set aside in a bowl for rinsing the razor, instead of running it under the tap.  Don’t worry about leftover bits of lather if you’re heading for the shower afterward. 

💦 Go Navy!  Since there’s a limited amount of water on naval ships, saving water is extremely important.  Sailors developed a technique for saving water now called the Navy shower.  Here’s how it works: hop in the shower and get wet all over, turn off the water while soaping up, and then turn the water back on to rinse off.  Navy showers can use as little as 4 gallons of water!  And you also might save money for coffee—it will really wake you up! 

At The EcoFairy, our goal is to help you build a more sustainable life by offering you a line of reusable products. We offer products that last and that will help you reduce the amount of plastic you use.     

More info on our website: https://www.theecofairy.com