How to Save Water at Home: 7 Easy Ways Forward

During my second week of “going green”, I explored how to save water at home, what are the easy ways to start with? Water Conservation Tips: 110+ Ways to Save Water by Sustainable Baby Steps is one of my favourite sites on how to reduce water waste. This website explains that only about 1% of world’s water resources are accessible drinking water. The webpage also states that “nearly all of the water we get from the tap has to undergo a lengthy, energy- and resource-consuming process to make it clean and safe for our consumption.” That is some real food for thought.

I realized that I also had a very limited perception what water conservation at home means. For some reason, what first came to my mind was that it is about collecting rainwater. I was happy as we already had something in place to catch rainwater, as rudimentary as it might be—it’s presented in one of the featured images of this post. Fortunately, there is much written about how to save water at home. Reading what is available online, I got so many ideas about what are easy ways to reduce water waste at home. Therefore, I could focus one full week on just doing water conservation indoors. I left improving our rainwater collection for another week.

HOW TO SAVE WATER AT HOME?

I introduced the following eco-friendly changes related to reducing water waste to my life:

1. Showering less and taking shorter showers to conserve water

2. Turning the tap off when brushing teeth, even better – using a cup!

3. Choosing my “cup of the day” and sticking with it all day long

4. Installing water reduction showers and taps

5. Filling a jar with water and putting it into the fridge

6. Plugging the sink drain when washing the dishes to save water

7. Turning the faucet off when washing my hands or face in the sink

CHANGING PERSONAL CARE HABITS TO REDUCE WATER WASTE

Greener Showers

I used to shower every morning, and it was a special time for me—away from kids, in my own warm water cocoon! Particularly during the periods when I had to tend to a baby, the shower was my only real time to myself on some days. So at first the idea of reducing these cherished moments did not appeal to me at all. Yet I realized that because of the kids, my showers had already become less frequent. I was not always able to shower every day, and some days I just opted for a quick cleanup in the sink. Therefore, the goal I had set for myself—to shower only every other day (with some exceptions allowed for extremely hot days)—was partly already accomplished. Thank you my three musketeers for your help in saving water!

As to shorter showers, I decided first of all to try what Sustainable Baby Steps blog calls “military showers” or “soap and save.” In other words, I shut the water off while I apply shampoo or soap. I noticed that this did not really destroy my warm cocoon feeling, as the shower walls kept the heat during these “pause” moments. It was also mind-blowing to realize how long it actually took to wash my hair! I do have pretty long hair, but still, all the water that I used to waste during these moments.

A way to brush my teeth without water waste

With brushing my teeth, my idea was first to turn off the tap as a method to save water at home. However, Sustainable Baby Steps inspired me to take it right away to another level and to use a small cup. I did it together with my boys, and it was a lot of fun! Many times our hands tried automatically to go to open the faucet, so we had to “unlearn” that and take the cup. I changed my practice of washing my hands and face as I had done with showers, making sure that the tap was turned off when I applied soap or foam.

BABY STEPS IN THE KITCHEN TO REDUCE WATER WASTE

Just one cup per day

I liked a lot the idea of choosing the “cup of the day”—again, thank you, Sustainable Baby Steps! As I have many beautiful cups that I love, I have to admit that I have the habit of drinking coffee from different cups throughout the day. When I was working from home, this easily amounted to 4 or 5 dirty cups. I thus sometimes found myself in the evening with one third of the dishwasher filled with my coffee cups… I often needed to run the dishwasher twice per day, leading to water waste.

As with my changes in bathroom, I just had to unlearn these old habits producing water waste and to be kind to myself. The first day went well, but some other days in the week I found myself again with a new cup in my hand. The jar experience was similar. Sometimes I was again at the tap waiting the running water to turn cold to fill my glass, although fresh water was waiting for me in the fridge. But progress, not perfection!

Eco-friendly way of doing dishes

The day when I had chosen to focus on plugging the drain and filling the sink when washing the dishes did not go as planned. My husband, who hates to find dirty dishes in the sink had put all these—except one pan—into dishwasher. Our dishwasher was happily running when I reached the kitchen to start my new experiment. So we clearly have to work on internal communication in the family:-) But with this one dirty pan, the washing experience went well and I was able to use less water. In the future, I will try to use it for washing the dishes that cannot go into the dishwasher.

HOW TO SAVE WATER AT HOME: TRY LOW FLOW!

I wish that I could tell you that I changed our taps and showerheads all by myself to reduce our family’s water waste. All started off very well when I went to the shop with the photos taken of my existing plumbing pieces to ask for low-flow replacements. And I managed to come back—thanks to the salesman’s kind help—with some of the right pieces! At home, though, my courage and wisdom diminished. I went for the easier way out: I asked my dear husband to help me out, and he managed to change the taps and shower heads quickly.

In France, there are good and inexpensive products available for reducing water waste. Changing all our taps for low flow amounted into less than 10 euros. According to the product descriptions, they can lead to saving up to 70% of water.

I still prefer to think of this plumbing experience as an act of teamwork 🙂

CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED

Less plastic or organic?

On another day, I got angry at my husband when he came back from weekly grocery shopping. I had told him not to buy pre-washed salads anymore after reading that they led to significant water waste. When my husband came back I noticed that he had bought another salad, but it was wrapped in plastic! I critically asked him: “Why did you buy this one, all wrapped into plastic, and not a salad without any wrapping”?

My husband’s response was thought-provoking: “I tried to choose a maximum of fruits and veggies that are organic the not-wrapped-salads were not organic.” The sad truth of our supermarket is that we often face a difficult trade-off, explained also in my blog post on greener grocery shopping. What is better for the environment: less plastic or fewer pesticides?

My children are not my toys

The day I had decided to try out new teeth-brushing ritual to save water at home, I asked my husband to get the boys into bathroom. My idea was take a photo for my blog of them trying out the brushing with a cup. And my husband replied: “Your kids are not toys, be careful how much you use them for your photos.” While he is supporting me a lot in my change to greener living, he does not want our daily life to become a show online. And he is right—I have to be careful and not to get carried away. I also believe that my children’s consent for photos is important and I need to have their approval to post.

Progress, not perfection

I had also planned to switch to dual-flush toilets as another way to explore how to save water at home, but this did not happen this week. It is a bit bigger change that I expected, and it will remain our objective for the future.

TIPS AND HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

Domino effect – going green has no boundaries

While exploring what are easy ways to save water at home, I noticed that my eco-friendly mindset goes beyond the daily challenge or weekly theme. I have noticed myself becoming much more conscious about switching off all unnecessary lights, even when it meant getting into fight with my one-year old who loves to switch all the lights on these days! As I choose my battles with my boys, turning unneeded lights on had not been among the chosen ones—until now. In general, I often found myself a step ahead. For instance, I was already starting to choose my cup or close the tap more consciously before the days I had planned for these habit changes.

The same was true, though, for the more “negative” domino effects. As mentioned, I would like to buy a bike and start making some of my trips to Geneva by bike. Yet another day I caught myself feeling scared, thinking that I might be attacked or raped when coming back on my bike in the dark on the little roads in countryside! Or another creation of my busy mind: I was thinking of applying for a great research job in the UK, which would mean flying a lot… So I was all perplexed in my mind how I could do my green journey under such conditions…Instead of just concentrating on water conservation at home.

Focusing on one day at a time is necessary. It helps to introduce and concentrate on training one habit at a time and manage the fear. So during the week of water conservation, one important tip for me was:

• Manage the flow of your internal “going-green energy.” Embrace the positive domino effect, focus on your task of the day, and contain fear-based negative projections!

Build on existing motivation

Being focused on exploring what are easy ways to save water at home, I wanted to continue next week with water recycling. Yet my kids want to go to school by bike instead of car, and they have asked me several times when I will buy a bike. So I decided to honor their priorities in going green 🙂

Keep myself inspired

Thank you for your many likes and comments—they encouraged me a lot! I also framed my planet collage and hung it on the living room wall to keep me inspired.