Easy Ways To Save Water At Home [Week 20]

Posted On June 8, 2021

We all need occasional reminders on the best ways to save water at home. Just being thoughtful about it and making small changes can have a big impact on how much water is used in your home every year.

Amanda Drews

We need water. There’s no way around that. You may live in an area with an abundance of fresh water or it might be a scarce resource in your town. Either way we all know that conserving water is pretty important. Here are some tips to not only help you save water but lower your water bills as well.

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In the bathroom

• Turn off that faucet while you‘re brushing your teeth, lathering soapy hands or shaving! This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Think about 4 minutes a day per person for just the teeth part, all that water just running down the drain.
• Consider buying a WaterSense faucet, aerator or water saving shower head. An upgraded faucet alone could save you 700 gallons of water a year! (EPA, 2020) An aerator is just a tiny little screen you screw in that adds air to your water stream. Your faucet may already have one in it. Replacing an old faucet with a WaterSense model could also lead to further savings for you through rebates.
• Take shorter showers. Plan you shower and shower your plan! I know this sounds a little silly but know what you need to do before you get in the shower and get what you need ready. If you can turn off the water while you are letting your conditioner soak in, do that. If there’s a certain set of things you do in the shower throughout the week, it may be more efficient to do one of those things each shower during that conditioning time. Maybe Monday you shave your legs, Wednesday you do a sugar scrub etc.
• Take less large baths. Full baths use up far more water than showers do, so take less of them. If you are curious to see how much bath water you would need to equal a shower, take a shower with the drain plug in and decide from there if you are indeed using less water by showering or if a bath may be a better option for you.
• Bathe less overall! OK, take this with a grain of salt. You still need to bathe. Some people can stretch out the time in between showers to a couple days, others need to shower daily. See if you can stretch it out by using powdered dry shampoo and freshening up more in between showers with a washcloth. Maintain a healthy bathing schedule for what your body needs.
• Reuse bathroom towels a few times before washing them. You don’t have to throw your laundry towel in the hamper after every shower. Figure out the best way to hang your towels to dry and save on water by doing less laundry.

• If it’s yellow, let it mellow. You know what this is all about! This is one of the most impactful ways to save water at home. Go and look at how much water your toilet uses per flush. If you have a newer low-flow toilet, it could be using under 2 gallons per flush but older models can be up to 7 gallons per flush! (watercalculator.org, 2021) Your pee is not hurting you by sitting in there and eventually someone is going to have to go number 2 and flush. It may require an extra cleaning here and there to keep the ammonia smell down but it’s worth it for all the water you will save.
• Check your toilet for leaks. Put a few drops of food coloring in your tank, wait 15 minutes (don’t flush!) and if you see the color appear in the bowl, there may be a leak that needs fixing.
• If you are replacing a toilet, opt for a low-flow or dual flush model. They may even have separate buttons on there for liquids and solids.

• Put an object in your toilet’s tank that will reduce the amount of water per flush (maybe). The old way was to put a brick in the tank but that is no longer recommend due to the fact that it can break down and cause damage. If you fill a plastic water bottle with water, some rocks to weigh it down plus a drop of bleach and put it in your tank, this can help reduce the amount of water per flush. However, certain toilets do need a certain amount of water in order to properly flush everything down. So I’m going to leave this one as a maybe. Here are some other strategies for adjusting what’s in your toilet tank.
• Put garbage in your garbage, not your toilet. The only things that should go down a toilet are bodily waste and the toilet paper you used to take care of that waste. If you blow your nose, throw that in the garbage. Feminine products? Garbage. Flushable baby wipes? GARBAGE. Baby wipes are not flushable even if they say so on the packaging. They can clog up systems which could waste water in the long run.

In the kitchen

• First of all, which is greener? hand washing or using a dishwasher? There are lots of comparisons online trying to figure out which method is overall more sustainable. The conclusions seem to range from an energy efficient dishwasher is hands down the more efficient way to clean your dishes to you could maybe be more efficient by hand washing if you do it in a very specific way with the two basin method. However, I didn’t find one comparison that took into account the fact that producing a dishwasher and getting it to your home also takes up a fair amount of energy and resources. You need a sink, you don’t really need a dish washer. So if you were building a new home or remodeling a kitchen, a dishwasher may not be in your plans (consider resale though!). In the end, it all comes down to convenience and this mama does not want to spend the hours of her life away hand washing dishes.
• Use an Energy Star dishwasher. If you need to replace a dishwasher, opt for a more energy efficient, Energy Star model.

• Only wash full loads of dishes in your dishwasher. This is a big one people! I understand how nice it is to just run the dishwasher every night and wake up to clean dishes but if your dishwasher isn’t full, it’s wasting a ton of energy and water. It will also cost you more money in detergent.
• Avoid rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. This is still a habit I have yet to break. If you have a newer dishwasher, it should do the work for you. Just make sure to clean out the food catch a bit more often.
• Soak with the same water. For dishes that do need a little extra love before going in the dishwasher, fill up the biggest item that needs soaking and put everything else in that item. If you have a pan with starchy potato residue that needs scrubbing, you probably have plates with it too. Start with the biggest one and then use that same water for the rest of the dishes before going in the dishwasher.
• Keep one cup or bottle out for water for the whole day. This is a hard one with kids because for some reason mine want to grab a new cup every time they are thirsty. We now have a designated spot by the fridge for everyone to put their cup for the day. At the end of the night, I grab all of them for the dishwasher. Having the cups out is also a good reminder to drink water throughout the day!
• Defrost in the fridge. Instead of running water over your frozen food, plan ahead and defrost your items in the refrigerator.

In the laundry room

• Keep a spot in your closet for clothes that can be worn again. This will help cut down on the amount of laundry you do. Not everything has to be washed after every wear. A t-shirt on a hot summer day? Sure, you’ll want to wash that guy. Jeans you wore to run to the grocery store in the winter? Wait, do you actually wash jeans?!
• Only wash full loads of laundry. Every family is going to vary in how much laundry they have. It might be helpful around your house to have laundry days for certain people but if those loads aren’t full, ditch the schedule. Or if your washing machine has settings for different amounts of clothing, utilize those.

• If you have small items that need to be washed separately, consider buying a washing machine with an add on that will wash individual items. But don’t abuse it. Try to keep most items washed together.
• As far as saving energy goes, wash with cooler water when you don’t have clothes that are soiled. This will also help keep your clothes looking like new and when you consider how much water goes into producing new clothes, this is a win-win. And look for Energy Star washers and dryers if you’re replacing old ones.

Around the yard

• Keep an eye on the weather. Nothing is more ridiculous than a sprinkler running in the rain. Be aware of when your area is expecting rain. If you have an automatic sprinkler system, make sure the rain sensor is functioning properly.
• Strategically water your plants. For outside plants, water in the morning and evening. Otherwise if it’s too hot in the afternoon the water may evaporate before the plants can use it. Even inside, use water from old water bottles or leftover ice cubes to water your houseplants. Position sprinklers so that all the water is being used for plants and not being wasted on structures. What’s even better than strategic watering? Planting species that don’t need a lot of water in the first place.
• Install a rain barrel. This is one way to utilize water that is otherwise going unused. Look online to see if you can find a used one first. Place a rain barrel at all your downspout drains to catch water coming off your roof. I use my rain barrel for watering my smaller flower gardens as the water from the barrel should not be used on plants you intend to eat. Instead of letting my kids have access to the hose for playing with or filling the water table, they get to use whatever water they want from the rain barrel. Just make sure they aren’t drinking from it! Also, my kids do get to play in the sprinkler occasionally. Especially if the grass needs watering. I’m not a monster. For Minnesotans, you can get a well-priced rain barrel made of recycled materials through the Recycling Association of Minnesota in the Spring. We ordered the rain barrel below when we moved because our inspector recommended we do some costly water diverting upgrades to our driveway. I chose a more decorative one since it sits in the front of our house. You may have to buy a diverter for your rain barrel.

• Put in a rain garden. This is a great way to catch the rest of the water coming off your roof that you can’t divert to a rain barrel or an alternative to one. There are many ways of designing and building rain gardens. The main purpose is to keep water off of impervious surfaces and put to use before hitting the street. Some cities may help you out with grants if you install one on your property.
• Place mulch around plants. Mulch can help slow evaporation.

• Opt for a professional car wash. Washing your car at home sends residue from your vehicle and cleaning materials into the storm drains on your street. Professional car washers have to follow EPA regulations for how their water is treated and what can be used. If you feel like you have to wash your car at home, check with your city laws first because it may even be illegal to wash your car in your driveway depending on your location and how much rainfall your area has had!

Keep an eye on your water bill

Keeping track of how much water you end up using can help you be more thoughtful about your water usage. It will also alert you to any leaks or issues your home may have if it all of a sudden goes up for no obvious reason. Join up with another household and have a contest to see which home can decrease their monthly water usage the most! Save water and money.

If you are a Minnesota Energy Resources Customer you can get a free water conservation kit for at home here.

Down to the last drop

Above are some of the more direct ways to think about water conservation but also start thinking about the bigger picture as well. A hamburger can require 460 gallons of water and cotton t-shirts require 650 gallons (USGS)! Those numbers can obviously vary, but the point is water is required for so many things beyond their direct uses. Taking things like diet and clothing care into consideration will help save water in the long run.

1). Go through this list and see where you can save water around your home. Break it up and assign people to different areas if that helps.

2). Sit down with your family and talk about some of the habits you can change like rinsing before putting dishes in the dishwasher or washing full loads of laundry. If you were running off a laundry schedule before but didn’t have full loads, maybe allow for reserving times to do laundry. If you know your bin is getting full, you could reserve a spot in 2 days so everyone has a heads up.

3). Head to Week 21 to learn about Pollinators!