By the author of The Ultimate Guide to Frugal Living
and The Prepper’s Water Survival Guide
When I wrote my book, The Prepper’s Water Survival Guide, I channeled my granny for the water conservation section. When she was a little girl in the early 1900s, her chore was going outside, whether it was warm or cold, pumping water from the yard into a bucket, and bringing it inside.
Because it was so much work to pump that water and lug it in, she made every drop count. I remember when she was in her 80s, she was still incredibly conservative with her water use, even though she’d had unlimited amounts flowing from the taps for years.
I guess lessons like that really make an impression. And it made an impression on me, too. I remember so many little things she did that I just thought were quirky and old-fashioned at the time, which make a lot more sense now that I’m trying to keep my own bills low.
Here are a few suggestions for reducing the amount of water you use on a daily basis. The list is by no means comprehensive, and not all of these solutions will work for everyone’s situation.
Without further ado, here’s a list inspired by my granny.
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Some tips from those who live without running water
First, take notes from those who live without running water. Just think: If you had to physically acquire every drop of water used in your home, whether by pumping it from a well or lugging it from a water source, you’d already be taking many of these lower-tech steps.
- Reuse cooking water. If you have boiled pasta or vegetables, use this water for making soup. You will have retained some of the nutrients and flavor from the first thing you cooked in the water.
- Landscape with plants that grow naturally in your area. They should require little in the way of additional watering.
- Grow organic. Chemical fertilizers can increase a plant’s need for water.
- Wash some clothing by hand – it will use far less water than your washing machine. Be sure and save the water for other uses.
- When shaving, rinse your razor in a cup instead of under running water.
- Skip the dishwasher and do the dishes by hand.
- Instead of running water over each dish to rinse, fill one side of the sink or a basin with rinse water containing a splash of white vinegar. Running water uses up to 4 gallons per minute.
- Use a glass of water to brush your teeth instead of running the tap the entire time. Running water uses up to 4 gallons per minute.
- Use organic mulch in your garden to help retain moisture.
- Wash produce in a basin of water instead of under running water.
- When you clean out your fish tank, reserve the water for your garden. Your veggies will love the nutrient boost!
- Harvest rainwater for your garden.
Conserving water with modern conveniences
These next options assume that running water is not an issue but that you still wish to conserve.
- Use a brick, a filled plastic bottle, or a float booster to fill space in the back of the toilet tank. This reduces the amount of water used in each flush.
- Speaking of flushing, you may have heard the rhyme, “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.”
- Devise a graywater catchment system for your shower, washing machine, and kitchen. This water can be used for flushing, watering plants, and for cleaning.
- Take shorter showers – try to reduce them to 5 minutes – this can save up to 1000 gallons per month! If you can’t handle a 5-minute shower, then every 2 minutes you shorten your shower time by can save approximately 150-200 gallons per month.
- Install a water-saving showerhead.
- When you have a shower, plug the tub. Use the water you collect for handwashing laundry.
- If you do use a dishwasher, run it only when it’s completely full – this can save you 1000 gallons per month.
- If you drop a tray of ice cubes, pop them into a pet dish or into your potted plants.
- When washing your hands, dip them in a basin of water, lather up, then rinse under running water. Running water uses up to 4 gallons per minute.
- Upgrade your faucets with inexpensive aerators with flow restrictors.
- Use a nozzle on your hose so that you are only putting water where you want it, not spraying it uselessly as you walk to the garden.
- Repair leaks. At the rate of one drip per second, that adds up to 5 gallons per day…literally down the drain.
- If you are buying new items for your home, opt for those which use water more efficiently, like front-loading washing machines and low-flush toilets.
How do you conserve water?
Have you ever tried any of the suggestions listed here? Do you have suggestions to add? Let us know how you reduce water usage in the comments.
8 Responses
While waiting for the water to get hot. we use a bucket in the shower & a pitcher in the kitchen sink. If there’s a little water left in our glass, we pour it in a plant not down the drain.
I put soap in my dish scrubber & wash the dishes then rinse then in a small tub. That water goes to the garden.
However, its been proven that a dishwasher uses less water than washing by hand. Just make sure it’s full when using it.
If you have metal pipes & get a leak, there’s a product called shark bite. It’s very easy to use & will fix your leak if it’s a small leak.
When we leave for a few days we always turn off the water. This way if something happens the water won’t be flooding the house.
I have water thrifty washer and dishwasher – I have a well. The dishwasher uses less water than I’d use handwashing dishes. That being said, there are odds-n-ends that are not dishwasher safe. I have a tool – that has a replaceable head – that I use on those odds-n-ends (I’m not talking T-Day/Xmas Day cooking vessels).
Recently, I have been taking the water that I used when washing eggs (really dirty ones) and watering my Chicago fig tree with it. My husband uses rainwater from our water barrel to water pots in our garden all the time as well. These are things we do every day. We don’t need to do this, there’s plenty of water here, but knowing that we could do a lot more if we needed to, makes a big difference in our preparedness.
Better than a 5 minute shower, take a sailor shower. Wet and lather up your wash cloth ahead of time. Turn shower on and wet your body. Turn shower off, use lathered up wash cloth to wash your body, turn shower on and rinse soap off. Takes about 1 minute to wet down and another 1½ minutes to rinse off. Plus, you do a better job of scrubbing your body. Same method can be used for shampooing hair. Wet hair, turn water off, apply shampoo and lather it up, turn water on to rinse, turn water off. Both functions save much water.
Hi, Daisy. I had difficulty deciphering “If you can’t handle a 5-minute shower every 2 minutes, you shorten your shower time by can save approximately 150-200 gallons per month.” I surmise that the intent was, “If you can’t handle a 5-minute shower, every 2 minutes you shorten your shower time by can save approximately 150-200 gallons per month.” [comma after “every 2 minutes” moved to follow “5-minute shower’]
Oh, whoopsy! Great catch! Thank you!
I once measured the condensation water draining from the central AC in a beach house on the Texas coast (very humid air), and caught 5 gals in one hour. No kidding.
While it may not help during a grid-down event, that volume of water could be a major contributor to the potable water supply for many suburban homes in less apocalyptic circumstances.
Turn off the sink when brushing teeth! You can spit in the toilet and flush after using it a couple of times. Or, just go outside and spit on the grass and swish with a mouthful of water. Pee twice, flush once, thats where the term “mellow yellow” comes from, because in California where they try to conserve water, they would only flush a couple of times a day, or after something solid.
Also, you can collect rain water or river water to flush with. That is free, rather than spending your expensive potable water on it.