You could refill the water bottle at the end of your shower while the water’s still running. That way you’d only turn on the water exactly once per cycle.

I hope your wife still gets a chance to take a nice long bath every so often! I’d be a grouchy grouchy woman without mine.

Normal 10 minute (600 second) shower uses 60 gallons of water? 1 gallon every 10 seconds? That’s a rather high flow. I don’t think my flow is even half that. Still, cut back flow and turn down the temp on the water heater.

Owning an RV (5th wheel to be exact) that we use for recreational purposes, we have found that we can make the 46 gallon tank last about 3 days with showers for two adults and other regular water usage (bathroom, sink, etc). I can make it 5 or 6 days if alone, but I use a lot less water for my showers.

This is a big change from our first camper which held 72 gallons and would still only last about 3 days.

Our water conservation methods have improved over the years by mostly learning how to utilize “navy” showers and washing many dishes at once rather than individually when needed.

I’ve found that short showers like that are the most refreshing if you’ve just worked out. If you can time them to follow an early-morning workout that might help with motivation.

have you thought about sharing your shower with pails or barrels to catch the excess? Afterward use the gray water to water plants or landscape. We use a low flow shower head and low flow toilet. Saving water is required in southern California.

Congrats on trying the Navy shower. I figured you’d like the idea.

Another waste of water (in warm showering) is waiting for it to warm up. If you’ve cold pipes in winter, warming up a shower can take a full minute (3-6 gallons for most)

A good trick, if you feel the need for a warm shower, is to turn on the hot water tap at just a small but steady trickle, until warm, then turn on the shower.

Likely you’ll be able to warm up the water using less than half a gallon of water, not 3-6 gallons. Multiply by 3-4 family members x 30 days per month and the water and heating savings adds up.

Also, we usually take showers in quick succession– or simultaneously in the two baths– so the pipes don’t get cold between showers.

Like GREENIE said, there are many shower heads available which are rated at 1.5gpm. The one I use is adjustable, and I regularly set it at about 0.8gpm.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F6WHR4E/?tag=oildepletio03-20

You can also install a drain heat recovery device. Your bath waste water flows through them and exchanges its heat with the cold water that feeds the hot water tank.

https://ecodrain.com/en/#product-overview

For those now brushing their teeth with baking soda instead of tooth paste you might also try bathing (and even shampooing) with baking soda instead of with soap or shampoo. It’s remarkable how clean you feel afterwards. But congruent to this post is that it takes far less water to wash baking soda off your body than it takes to wash soap or shampoo off your body.

I prefer to take sponge baths–uses approximately 2 c. of water every week. I get cleaner than when I took average showers. It also takes 1/5th the time.

If you want to learn how to comfortably live with low water use, read how live-aboard cruisers on sailboats do it. Not only do they have limited amounts of water, but power is usually in short supply as well. One (of many) active forum is CruisersForum dot com.

Low-flow shower heads are widely available. Mine is rated at 1.5 gal/min, but I typically have it adjusted to half that flow rate.

If you want to have your cake and eat it too, EcoDrain makes a wastewater heat recovery unit. The water from your bath or shower runs through a device which uses the heat in that water to preheat the cold water supply to your hot water tank.

Finally, not only can you use baking soda to brush your teeth with, but it also makes a remarkable effective soap/shampoo. The big benefit to someone wishing to minimize water use is that far less water is needed to wash baking soda off than is required to wash off soap or shampoo.

I’m a sustainability consultant and I’m not so sure we are ‘decades’ away from peak water. I think we are just several years away from ‘water wars’. Anyway, I agree that water is waaaaay too cheap to encourage conservation, so I applaud your efforts.

I do enjoy a good bathing, but I lived in a house in Texas, and I couldn’t fathom watering a lawn, even in the worst drought and my grass was always green. Just don’t mow too short and you don’t need water. Simple.

There are children in the world who can’t go to school because they have to walk 6 miles a day to get water and we put it on our lawns! My goodness…. we are a privileged (spoiled) nation.