My Family’s Money

Step 0 (Optional but highly recommended) – Exercise vigorously for 30-45 minutes.

Step 1 – Get into the bathroom, get naked, get into the shower.

Step 2 – Turn on the shower as hot as you can.

Step 3 – Wet hair once the water is warm enough. (40 seconds)

Step 4 – Once hair is wet, turn off shower.

Step 5 – Shampoo.

Step 6 – Turn on shower to rinse hands off – make sure the rest of your body is sufficiently wet. (5 seconds)

Step 7 – Turn off shower.

Step 8 – Lather with soap – bar or liquid works fine.

Step 9 – Turn on shower to rinse hair first, then body. (45 seconds)

Step 10 – Turn off shower and dry off.  Bask in your economic and ecological efficiency.

I shower just like this roughly 5 times  a week and I have come to really enjoy this type of shower.  Sure, I still take the occassional ten minute shower on a Sunday morning – but by taking a shower in just 1:30 I am saving tons of water that I would normally use for “comfort.”

“Comfort” is not really a valid excuse for waste, especially when the comfort provided via a 10 minute shower is not that much greater than that provided by a 1:30 minute shower.  I can do something better with the $0.89¹ I save each week.

1. Cost per gallon is based on a price of $2.505 per HCF (Hundred Cubic Feet, or 748.05 gallons) of water [↩]