Water Saving Tips

When you lose your water supply, you quickly assess what water needs are most important. First off, it’s important to have drinking water. After that, cooking probably takes a close second. Laundry and personal hygiene can take the back burner for a few days, but after that – you need to start figuring out how to make the most out of your stored water.

When we did the 7 Day Challenge we learned a lot from our readers about how they saved, or stretched their water supply. Here are some of the great suggestions we received. If you have any others, make sure to leave a comment.

First off, FILL YOUR WATER CONTAINERS. We heard from SO many people they had containers they just hadn’t gotten around to filling yet. The challenge has been over for a couple weeks, quit procrastinating and get to it TODAY!
Bathe in a large bucket, and use bottles that have the types of tops that squirt (refillable condiment containers) when pressure is applied. This will help with faster rinsing. Use the remaining bath water in the bucket for flushing toilets.
Use coralite bath wipes, for quick bathing.
Store some no rinse shampoo and conditioner for hair.
Have paper plates, plastic cups, and disposable tableware to use to allow you to cut back on dish water.
Use recipes that mix most ingredients in one dish, or pan that you serve straight from to cut back on dishes.
Store wet wipes, and hand sanitizer to help clean up messes, and wash hands.
Tap into your water heater for water if you run out of stored water.
Wear your hair in ponytails, or wear hats when you can’t wash your hair as frequently during prolonged times with no water.
If you have a swamp cooler that runs on water, make sure you have back up cooling methods such as fans, or wet rags to cool your body off during hotter weather.
Fill liquid soap/detergent bottles with water. You have water for washing small load of dishes. Soapy water for hands, and the bottles squirt out better then soda or juice containers.
Save water from cooking noodles, or boiling water. Use water from canned vegetables.
Don’t wait until you are out of clean clothes to do laundry!
If you have to do laundry get a bucket, put a little baking soda, a tad of water, plunge by hand or with plunger. No need to rinse with baking soda. Baking soda will eradicate smell too.
If you’re water has a funny taste, store drink flavoring to improve the taste. You can also aerate the water by pouring it back and forth between two containers. It adds oxygen to the water and gets rid of the stale taste.
Flush conservatively. Use water you previously used for bathing to flush the toilets.