5 tips to shorten your shower

In The Netherlands most people use natural gas to heat up their water. And as you might know, natural gas is a energy source that is non-renewable and burning it causes our climate to warm. Since I live with my parents, I can’t rebuilt my shower so that it doesn’t use any natural gas. But what I can do is shorten my showers so that I use less natural gas. I have a few tips to do this and I want to share these with you today. Here are 5 tips to shorten your shower.

Natural Gas

We need to get rid of natural gas in our houses. The best way to do this is to rebuilt your shower. For now it seems like the best way to do that is with solar panels or an electrical boiler, but I have to do more research about that when I actually have my own shower. For now, I can only shorten my shower length. Natural gas is a non-renewable resource and so at one point we’ll run out of it, but this will take decades still. Yet, there are more reasons to ditch natural gas. In my home country the extraction of natural gas is a massive contributor to earthquakes.

Additionally, in some countries, they frack to extract natural gas. This pollutes the water and so some people lose their access to drinking water, which is a human right. You can see more about that in the documentary Gasland. Besides that, the burning of natural gas causes CO2 to be emitted and that causes our climate to warm. I will have to dedicate separate posts about climate change, because that subject is massive. For now, I hope you know climate change is one of the biggest issues of our time. We as a species face extinction.

Showering Habits

Okay, so back to the original subject: showering time. I have to admit: I am not the biggest hero. This is probably one of the most difficult subjects for me personally. I can quit flying, fine. Ditch animal products? No issue either. But a shower of just 2 minutes?! It’s hard. Anyhow, I have created a few habits that help me, to decrease my showering time. I don’t apply every single tip with every single shower, but I try to use them as much as I can. Here are my 5 tips to shorten your shower:

1 Shower somewhere else

This sounds a little bit odd. Will I have to ask my neighbor to shower there? No. I intended this tip for people who work out. At the gym or at a sports association. The tennis club for example, in my case the handball club. My experience is that when you shower somewhere else, your shower length decreases. At the gym for example, just a hop in the shower a quick wash and you’re out again. I don’t know what it is about that, but is sure works for me.

2 Use the water saving mode

Almost every modern shower head has a water saving mode. Use it! For me it works to use the saving mode during a shower where I don’t wash my hair. I only need a hard spray to wash the shampoo out of my hair. Whenever I am not washing out the shampoo, I use the water saving mode.

3 Don’t brush your teeth or shave

A lot of people brush their teeth under the shower, but that is just a waste of water. I’d say the same goes with shaving most of the time. For me, I can shave my armpits before I shower, but I do my legs and bikini area under the shower. I just don’t manage to do it well when I am not in the shower. Yet, that’s still a save of time, the time of brushing my teeth and shaving my armpits.

4 Save the cold water

This has more to do with water than with gas, but it still shortens your shower. Especially in winter, our shower takes a while to heat up. I use a bucket to catch the water and I have written a post about that before, you can read that here. It comes down to putting the cold water before it warms in the bucket. When the shower is warm you jump under the shower. The cold water I reuse for other purposes, like watering my plants.

5 A little bit colder each time

Maybe you know this phenomenon: you turn up the water temperature while you’re under the shower, but after a while it feels cold again. You turn it up, and up and up. Yet! This works the other way around too. When you switch the water just a tiny bit colder every once in a while you get used to the colder water. In the very end the water will eventually get too cold and you’ll get out of the shower. Win-win! I have figured out this really works for me in summer. Just a little bit colder each time.

Those were my 5 tips to shorten your shower. What habits have you created to shorten your shower time?

Yours sincerely,
Romee