10 Tips How To Save Water When Bathing
If your water supply becomes low, limited, or scarce, or you’re just looking to conserve or save a little money on hot water, follow some of these tips to save water while being more efficient how you bathe and clean yourself.
1. Take a shower, not a bath. A bathtub may use 35 gallons while a 5-minute shower might use 12 gallons with an ‘average’ shower head, which will save considerable water.
2. If you must take a bath, save water and only fill it only a quarter of the way.
3. Take a shorter shower. Do you really need more than 10 minutes under a shower to get properly clean? Every minute could save 2.5 gallons or thereabouts.
4. Take a Navy shower. Turn on the shower and wet yourself. Turn it off, and soap up. Then turn it on and rinse off the soap quickly. This will save an incredible amount of water.
5. Get a low-flow shower head. Most average shower heads use 2.5 gallons per minute, but you can find shower heads that use as little as 0.5 gallons per minute without dramatically sacrificing the shower experience. This will save up to 80% water compared to an average shower head.
6. Have a sponge bath. Add warm water into a basin, dip a sponge or washcloth into it, soap up the sponge and then wash over your body. Rinse the soap off of the sponge (put clean water on the sponge) and use the sponge to rinse the soap off yourself. It may sound unpleasant but it works just as well as a shower to remove dirt and germs.
7. Use baby wipes, which can do a surprisingly good job without any water.
8. Medical supply stores carry products of hair and body cleaners that use very little water.
9. Only wash that which is dirty. For example… got smelly feet? Just wash them in a bowl. Same for cuts or scratches.
10. Share a shower or bath. (not for everyone ;) )
This all may sound fairly obvious; still, every little bit adds up to savings. You should especially consider this during a bug-out situation… some baby wipes of one variety or another may be advisable to keep in your kit.