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“Do you take a shower everyday”? Why yes, yes I do.
“How do you possibly wash your hair, bath, and shave every day?” I don’t do all everyday. I alternate between washing my hair every 2 or 3 days and shaving every other day or so. This helps cut down my time in the shower considerably (and some hair expects say not washing your hair everyday is actually better for it).
“Do you count the time it takes you get warm water into your 3 minutes?” Yes, I do. But this one has been more challenging as the weather changes. Here in Berkeley, we had a couple days of really nice, warm weather, when it was okay for me to take mildly cooler showers. However, the weather has been changing over the past few days, and it’s not as easy to take mildly warm showers. I want some heat.
And while I have learned how many turns of each shower nob I need to make to get the right temperature water, I’m still letting this water wash down the drain rather than be useful to me in my shower. The Earth Lover in me thought this needs to change!
I then remembered something my mom does while the shower is heating up: save the not-up-to-desired-temperature water in a plastic bucket! Yeah, those plastic buckets you can get at home improvement stores or probably even grocery stores in the cleaning supplies aisle. After her shower, she uses that water to water her garden.
When I moved into my apartment, she got me one of the these buckets, stressing that I’d need it for something one day. I scoffed at her, thinking the plastic bucket was so silly, but utilizing it in the 3-minute shower challenge would allow me to not waste the water going down the drain simply because it isn’t hot enough. Moreover, I could turn off the water mid-shower to allow myself to shave or whatever and then turn it back on, having the plastic bucket to collect the not-hot-enough water.
I think that this is a great way to implement 2 of the 3 Rs: reduce and reuse. I can reduce my water consumption by turning off the shower while I shave or lather my hair. I can reuse the water that wasn’t hot enough to water my sad, on-the-brink-of-death plants.
Has anyone else heard of this bucket method? Anyone else gonna give it a shot?
(And because I know you’re reading this: Hi, Mom! Thanks for the idea!)
Today’s song: “So Says I” by The Shins (2:49)
What I did with my extra 10 minutes: did research for Comp Lit essay