We do our best to conserve water around here. Partly because we know it’s the right thing to do for the earth…and partly because it saves money on our water bill.
We’ve taught the boys to turn off the water while they’re brushing their teeth. We always have a full load of dishes in the dishwasher when we run it (crammed full…I might add). When I wash pots and pans by hand, I only put a little water with soap in the sink…really it doesn’t take very much.
However…showers around here have been a problem.
Three out of four boys can take a shower on their own now. (hoo-rah!) We usually say something like, “Okay guys go get your showers real quick!”
Do you know what telling our boys to so something “real quick” looks like? It looks like…it’s kinda like…well…it’s slow.
There are distractions and fun things and “I can’t find any clean socks in my drawer” all along the way to take a shower. Then, once one of them is in the soothing warm water…all thoughts of doing anything “real quick” that were remaining go…down the drain.
It can take them sometimes three or four times as long as it takes me and it is my personal opinion that the mama’s shower should be the one that logistically takes the longest.
Is it just my boys? Do little girls do this too?
We finally made the “taking of the shower” routine into a race against the clock. ANYTHING that is timed or “competitive” usually works for our kids.
They now set a watch timer right before they hop into the shower and then see if they have “broken their shortest shower record” as soon as they hop out.
This little plan is working so well for us…and I’m pretty sure the boys are still getting clean.
Have you found any tricks to help your family learn to save water? My boys We would all love to hear about it.
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How about another little Green Project you have up your sleeve? Blog about anything you have going on or want to try that has to do with saving green, going green, making extra green, eating extra greens…anything at all that has anything at all to do with the color green! Link up here with us so that we can read about your little Green Project!
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We place a bucket in the shower and use that “extra” water to water plants, etc.
The only thing we do is allow ourselves 1 longer shower a week… we can choose the day, but the rest of the time, we’ve gotta be quick :)
My boys take forever in the shower, and they don’t even get clean. I am sure they just let the water run over them for 20 minutes. We are still working on ways to shorten the time, although I am tempted to just cut off the hot water, I am sure they would be out lickety split!
Toni
I just recently realized how MUCH water showering takes and am trying to do things (like turning the water off while shaving — a real sacrifice in a Michigan winter!) to save water and gas for hot water. I have a blog post about exactly how much certain appliances cost. At my house, a shower is at least 9 cents every 5 minutes, maybe more. Visit Kitchen Stewardship to calculate your home’s shower cost! Great post!
unfortunetly for us we dont have a shower, only a bath. But what i do is when im in the bath the two small kids usually jump in with me and i tag them and get out lol
kat
x
Our boys have learned how to take quick showers on their yearly retreats. It’s a great way for a 3rd party to help them understand this kind of stewardship. In addition, we have a fun way of stopping the girls (who think shower time is when you practice your singing and performing skills) from taking too long….we begin washing some dishes in the kitchen. In our old house, that makes the shower water turn COLD and it gets them out every time!
Oh, it’s definitely not just boys! My 8 year old daughter takes the longest shower! I’ll tell her to be quick, she’ll say okay, and 20 minutes later I’m yelling in the bathroom door telling her to get out.
The only conservation we do shower wise, really is that we replaced our shower heads with ones that use less water. Also, I have very long hair which really adds to my shower time to wash and condition it properly, so I’ve taken to only doing my hair every third day. And actually, surprisingly, my hair has been far more healthy with less washing, so I win all the way around.
We also set a timer for the Pirates’ showers for 10 minutes. I’m always a little leery of turning anything into a contest, for fear of the “win at all costs” mentality interfering with the intended purpose of the shower. I would be interested in a follow up on that point once your weather warms up. :D
Yes, little girls (and Mommies) love to take LONG showers too. I am afraid it is not just boys. We started putting our daughter on a timer for her showers and that did the trick in our home.
we tend to just skip baths all together, except for saturday night so we don’t smell up the pew on suday morn…but maybe that’s not an option for everyone…
We are continually striving to find new ways to be greener – today our long awaited rain barrel project is being installed – we have recycled a 55 gallon drum from a local soft drink company – painted it and built the frame – this afternoon we are installing the gutters and waiting for rain!!
Leisha
Yep… my boys would get in and get back out without having touched a bar of soap. And with teen boys… we need them to touch the soap. Yuck.
O my word! Your boys sound just like my 6 (almost 7) yr old twin boys! One *is* worse than the other but they are painfull slow. LOVE the idea and I will try it tonight!! Thanks!!
My girls take long showers (well, to me 10 minutes is really long!) so I make them shower together. They don’t really take any longer together than one would by herself, so in my head, I allot them twice as long as I think a shower should take. That way, they use an appropriate amount of water for 2 showers, but get to stay in for a long time. I don’t get mad and they can check each other’s hair to make sure it’s thoroughly rinsed! Win win!
We have 3 boys, all still young enough to fit in one bath, but I am going to have to remember your idea for the future . . . everything seems to work better in our home with an “on your mark, get set, go!” at the beginning of it. I think that’s why I love your blog so much . . . I can get away from the race for a few moments and relate to your joyful life filled with boys, then go back with a “second wind” (I knew there was a reason God allowed me to do track and field in High School). Oh how I love boys having boys! Thanks for all the time you give to encourage others.
Eating extra greens is big around our house. In fact, we mostly drink them (green smoothies)!
I realized I’ve been going green & saving green for a long time. In college I was called a “closet hippie”…apparently country girls wearing jeans & cowboy boots who are earth-friendly are officially “closet hippies!” For example, I recently posted about using a common, simple, cheap product as a fabric softener.
Blessings All!
I can so relate to the boy in the shower for too long! My son only needs 5 minutes, but he’s in there singing, breaking soap apart and anything else his 8 year old brain thinks of while the warm water surrounds him for 25 minutes! His twin (girl) gets in and out in 10 minutes or less (she has a LOT of hair)except when she’s in a cleaning mood, but I’m certainly not going to complain about her cleaning the tub! Thanks for the inspiration – I’m going to create some type of ‘beat the clock’ chart and see if we can use less water.
BTW – have you ever done a post on rewards? I don’t like our rewards to be monetary all the time. I was wondering if you had a list or if you would consider a post about rewards (i.e., pick Saturday night dessert, choose movie for family night, tea party, etc.).
I have 2 girls 10 and 13. The 10 yr old is actually quite quick about her shower. (even though she is slow about practically everything else). The 13 puts on a Broadway show while showering. We are talking 20-30 minutes showers. So we gave her a time limit of 5 minutes, drastic change I know. So then she started getting up before anyone was awake to take 30 minutes showers. So we then told her she wasn’t allowed to shower before her dad or I was awake. She is finally getting the hang of getting in, getting washed and getting out.
~Amber~
We too set a time limit by using a kitchen timer – seven minutes for the shower and 7 minutes to get dressed and make the bathroom “presentable”. Our two (son 7yrs and daughter 6yrs) do well with the timer method. I use it on many many things (meals, chores, etc).