Saving water with a bucket in the shower

Today I’m sharing something about waste (surprise!). But not the kind of waste that I normally write about. Today I want to write about wasting water. Because this waste is just as important as trash, wasting water is terrible. I want to tell you about a trick I use to save a lot of water. I do this by placing a bucket in the shower!

A Waste of Water

What do I have to do with a bucket in the shower? Well, here’s the story. It takes a little while for the shower to get warm, especially in winter in most houses. And so there you are: waiting for the water to get warm, seeing all the cold water going down the drain. I stick one toe under the water to see if it’s already warm, but furthermore I’m shaking and waiting. Such a waste of all that clean, drinkable water that goes down the drain.

A Secondhand Bucket

So, I went on the hunt for a secondhand bucket. Because, well, buying secondhand is way more sustainable than buying new. We have enough buckets on this planet already, so I don’t need to buy a new one. Yet, back when I made this switch I wasn’t so aware of this, I cared more about the material. I could only find secondhand buckets made out of plastic. And so I bought a new one made out of stainless steel. A mistake I see now, but I can’t take it back. The only thing I can do is recommend buying a secondhand one to you.

Saving Water

Okay, so, I bought the bucket. And the first time I took a shower again I placed the bucket under the cold water so it wouldn’t be wasted. When the water is warm, I get under the shower myself. But! I still keep the bucket standing there. That’s because warm can also get into the bucket while I take a shower. Even more water I save! We currently use the water to water our indoor plants (we don’t have a garden, but if you do, use it there!). Ideal!

Not the Biggest Impact

A little side note about showering behavior, because I’m still working on that. The less you shower, the better of course. Even with a bucket in there to save water. The biggest impact is just in how often and how long you shower. I shower about once a week if I don’t exercise, because I can just wash myself by the sink every day. If I do exercise, I shower afterwards. So, it depends. There are ways to shorter your shower and I wrote down how in this post. But that doesn’t make it pointless to use this bucket! Every bit helps over the long run!

Yours sincerely,
Romee