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Shorten Your Shower with These Helpful Tips

With fresh water sources becoming more depleted by the day, water conservation has become an increasingly important issue. The government urges families to be cognizant of the amount of water they use relative to their needs. In other words, don’t be wasteful.

One of the best ways to reduce daily water consumption is by taking shorter showers. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, showering accounts for about 17 percent of all indoor residential water use.

Chances are you spend more time in the shower than necessary. A recent survey revealed that the average shower lasts eight minutes. While that might seem like a reasonable length compared to your shower habits, consider for a minute what that means from a water usage perspective.

An eight-minute shower burns roughly 16 gallons of water. This means if you live in a house with two adults and two children, and each takes an average-length shower daily, your family is consuming 64 gallons every day just from showering! Scale those numbers out and that’s 448 gallons down the drain every week – nearly enough water to fill an 8-person hot tub.

As you begin to grasp the magnitude of these statistics, you might be thinking to yourself, ‘Hey, maybe I’ll switch from showers to baths.’ Believe it or not, that’s an even worse idea than taking a nine-minute shower. According to the same study referenced earlier, the average bath consumes 21 gallons of water – five more than a shower. So as painful as it may be, your only solutions are showering less or showering shorter.

Here are five simple ways to shorten the length of your shower:

1)    Activate the drain: Before hopping in the shower, turn the drain off. When the water level climbs above your ankles, it’s time to get out.

2)    Sing in the Shower: Play a single, 4-5 minute song on your speakers. When the song ends, so does the shower. 

3)    On the Clock: Buy a waterproof clock and set the timer. When the timer sounds, get out of the shower. 

4)    Get into a ritual: Your showers should be very systematic. Soap, shampoo, rinse, exit. Keeping a rigid routine will prevent you from wasting time and water.

5)    Be accountable: If you begin to “cheat” on your shower time, tell your husband or wife to hold you accountable. I’m sure he or she will have no problem knocking and yelling when your time is up!

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