Do you turn off the tap?

[Pamela H in Texas]

Okay, switching to turning off the water while brushing my teeth was easy. I just don't think I can do it while showering though. So then I kinda wondered what everyone else did? I did get a water conserving shower head that gives a nice powerful shower too.

 

Poll coming...

[KristinaBreece]

I can't shower with the water off. Maybe I'm just spoiled... but I get too cold!

[kiana]

I would actually prefer NOT to have the water conserving shower head. I was forced to get one by the landlord -- and it takes about 4x as long to wash my hair. So I'm using half the water but for four times as long -- it doesn't make sense.

 

Oh, and I leave the water on, but I get really cold otherwise. :P

[nono]

Caveat to my answer, which is the first choice in the poll.

 

Only May - October. So 1/2 of the year. :)

[Pamela H in Texas]

kiana, go to http://www.takeashower.com. Problem will be SOLVED, I promise!

[seraphina]

I shower so quickly that I don't turn the water off. I actually wash the entire time I am in and then rinse so I don't think turning the water off would conserve anything. I am usually only in for a maximum of 5 minutes but usually less than that.

[unsinkable]

Okay, switching to turning off the water while brushing my teeth was easy. I just don't think I can do it while showering though. So then I kinda wondered what everyone else did? I did get a water conserving shower head that gives a nice powerful shower too.

 

Poll coming...

 

I can turn it off in the nice weather, not the nasty weather. I am super quick in the shower, so I guess that helps!

[WeeBeaks]

I leave the water on, but we have the conservation head and also little timers in the shower to remind us to shower in 5 min or less. They are especially helpful for my oldest son, but I'm liking "beating the clock" also to make sure I'm not standing in that lovely quiet shower a bit too long. LOL

 

We got these little timers. If I use that, I wouldn't really have much time to turn off water while soaping up. 5 minutes is pretty short.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0029STVD8

[Wheres Toto]

I shower so quickly that I don't turn the water off. I actually wash the entire time I am in and then rinse so I don't think turning the water off would conserve anything. I am usually only in for a maximum of 5 minutes but usually less than that.

:iagree:

 

I very very rarely get to take a shower that lasts longer than the time it takes to wash and wash/condition my hair. Any longer than that and the kids would destroy the house. I might take a little longer if dh is home but those are the times I make the effort to shave so I still need the running water.

 

I think it would get too cold turning the water off. I grab a towel and dry off as soon as I turn the water off. Brrr.

[Jennifer3141]

I take a bath for the serious stuff like leg shaving.

 

I do rinse after my bath though.

 

I do have a water conserving showerhead but I don't turn the water off during my shower.

 

I want to know what the people who don't use water are doing!!! Sand scrubs?? :D

[stormy weather]

.

[kiana]

kiana, go to www.takeashower.com. Problem will be SOLVED, I promise!

 

When I move next year I'll look into that -- until then I'm stuck with what the landlord installed :(

[LidiyaDawn]

I don't turn the water off when brushing - I've tried, it just feels so wrong and I hate the 'sounds' of brushing! [does that make any sense? LOL] I run it lightly though. Shower head - no idea. We rent.. the shower head was already there and isn't ours.

[Daisy]

I take short showers also. I'm in and out in less than 10 minutes.

[Denisemomof4]

I voted other. I do have a water conserving shower head (and toilets, faucets, etc.) but I don't turn off the water UNTIL it has gotten warm/hot. I can't rinse my mouth with cold water due to sensitive teeth.:glare:

[texasmama]

I take a shower that is less than five minutes. I don't know how to shower without water. That concept is very foreign to me.:tongue_smilie:

[AHASRADA]

I typically do not turn off the shower head, partially because I would freeze (especially in winter), but mainly due to temperature adjustment.

 

It depends how your shower works, but mine turns on and then continues to move counter-clockwise to increase the water temperature. Therefore, if I turned it off, I would have to readjust the temperature every time I turned it back on (adding to the freezing factor).

 

The few times I have used a shower that can be "paused" and therefore maintain the temperature setting when resuming the water flow, I have done so.

[Paige]

I can't imagine turning off the water in the shower. I get in, wash my hair, put conditioner on, wash body, rinse, then rinse hair. Turning off the water would save, maybe 1-2min?? Am I supposed to ruin my warm shower mood for that? And, like the previous poster, I'd have to wait for the water to heat up again once I turned it back on and I think that would end up wasting more as I step aside and let it run until it is hot again. Or, are we now supposed to take cold/cool/lukewarm showers in the name of conservation? :confused: I have always turned off the water when I brush my teeth.

[LaxMom]

We have a water conserving showerhead with a "pause" (dribble) feature. I turn it to dribble after I wash/rinse my hair, and it provides enough to wet my scrubby cloth and rise the razor while I shave my legs. Then I turn it back to full steam and rinse the conditioner and my body.

 

I have really thick hair that was thigh length (now shoulder) and have no trouble wetting / rinsing with our showerhead.

 

I voted I don't turn off the tap, but I have a water conserving showerhead.

 

Eta: I do leave the water running a bit while I brush my teeth, but just until it gets warm so I can wash my face after.

 

Edited again to add: I totally covet the Athena adjustable flush handle. I ran into a convenience store on a road trip last week to use the facilities and they had picture instructions posted on the wall. I thought it was crazy until I saw that they have the industrial version and it was instructions to pull the handle up for liquid waste, push down for solid. I was so excited I had to run out and report to my husband!

Edited October 2, 2011 by MyCrazyHouse

[Whereneverever]

I do turn off the tap. Wyoming is not known for excess water, so we try to conserve.

[Amira]

I got into the habit of turning off the shower while we were living in a house where I had to dump my shower water by hand. That was excellent incentive even though my house was not warm in the winter.

[Laurie4b]

The only times I have turned off the shower flow while showering were during severe droughts when the water table was low. We weren't flushing except at necessity either. The water beating down on you is part of the experience of a shower!

[aggieamy]

Maybe I have a really old fashioned shower but it takes awhile to get the shower on and temperature adjusted. I don't want to have to try and do that with shampoo running down my face and burning my eyes. I leave the water on the entire time I shower.

[ChristusG]

I can't shower with the water off. Maybe I'm just spoiled... but I get too cold!

 

:iagree: I'd freeze if I turned the water off! As it is, I turn it to steaming.

[Love_to_Read]

space heater...when my mom had to conserve, a space heater made it bearable...and good for getting dressed afterward, and combing tangles, etc., without freezing.

 

of course, she also conserved fuel for the furnace, so we'd have froze even with the shower on

[kitten18]

I shower so quickly that I don't turn the water off. I actually wash the entire time I am in and then rinse so I don't think turning the water off would conserve anything. I am usually only in for a maximum of 5 minutes but usually less than that.

:iagree:

[myfunnybunch]

I don't turn off the tap, but most of our Asian exchange students do. It's how we can tell whether it's our dd or one of the students in the shower, because if it's one of the students the shower goes on-off-on-off.

 

Cat

[silliness7]

Okay, switching to turning off the water while brushing my teeth was easy. I just don't think I can do it while showering though. So then I kinda wondered what everyone else did? I did get a water conserving shower head that gives a nice powerful shower too.

 

Poll coming...

 

It's not that bad but then I only do it when highly motivated. That is when I'm showering directly after dh and there won't be enough hot water to rinse with if I don't shut her down while soaping up. I don't prefer it. But it's not horrible. It beats rinsing in cold water. :D

[RoughCollie]

There is no way I am going to turn the water off during a shower. Forget it.

 

We have a water conserving shower head and our water pressure is very low. I bought a new one, found out online how to make it not conserve water, and plan to install it. Period.

 

I am also going to call the electric company and have them remove the thing on our water heater that turns it off during peak times. I need hot water for six people, laundry, and cleaning and I am sick and tired of not having enough of it during peak times.

 

There are 6 people here and 1 bathroom, and enough is enough!

[Melissa in Australia]

I have rain water tanks only for water. we have a limited amount and it has to last the whole year. We turn off the tap while brushing our teeth, and have the shower on a bit faster than a trickle while showering.

[Unicorn.]

I have a caveat to my answer too, which was yes to shutting off tap, but not having a conserving shower head. What I actually do, is turn on the hot water when I start brushing, then when it gets warm, shut it off. That way I don't have to wait for hot water when I wash my face.

[swellmomma]

I do not turn it off and I do not have a water conserving head. I quite like standing in the shower and having it pound on my shoulders. It is the only quiet place in the house. That said, most days I only have enough time to shampoo my hair and wash myself off and get out, so less than 5ish minutes. Days like this morning I stood there for a good 15 minutes before shampooing my hair, simply because I could not get warm enough this morning. My son left his window open last night and the house was freezing, I needed the hot shower to thaw myself out.

 

I am not very good at conserving water. Between teeth brushing for 5, showers/baths for 5 (one of which has a bowel disorder and sometimes needs a couple a day, and 1 is a 4 yr old that take 2-3 baths a day because she gets filthy in 30 seconds flat), Mount washmore, hand washing a bajillion dishes a day, and only 1 toilet in the house, means that there is seldom a time that water is not being used in the house. During waking hours water is in use almost constantly.

[kalanamak]

I needed a true "other". I have a conserving head. I turn off the water when it is warm, but I don't stand in a cold room shivering in the winter, soaping my hair. We have the house quite cold at night, and I'm going to get that hot shower or bust. So, 3 months of the year, I turn it off while shampooing.

[Murphy101]

I've always turned the sink off when brushing. I might not ever turn it on for that matter. Just brush and slosh and spit.

 

Not only do I not turn off my water while showering, I turn it on before I get in and wait until there is a dense fog in the shower before stepping in. Then I shower in 10 minutes or less.

[azmomx3]

I even have trouble turning the tap off while brushing...so no, I don't turn it off in the shower!

[Amber in AUS]

We have water restrictions here. DH and I are the only ones who shower. We have a water saving shower head but don't turn the water off. Basically if you are not washing some part of you then get out. There is no standing under the hot water for a long time. Get wet, get washed, get out.

 

The kids all have a bath. 2 inches deep and they all share the same bathwater unless someone is sick.

[lailasmum]

We don't turn off the shower, our shower is designed to turn on cold so you can't burn yourself. It just wouldn't work.

 

I do turn off the tap though when brusing teeth.

[Laura Corin]

I don't worry too much about using water that has a purpose (keeping me warm in the shower) because this is not a dry area. I do turn off the tap whilst I brush my teeth, as the running tap has no purpose, and purifying water takes energy.

 

I pay more attention to conserving energy. In the last year, we has bought a low energy condensing dryer and a low energy condensing boiler. We have put in extra insulation in the roof (it's about a foot thick now) and the cavity wall in the kitchen is now filled with insulating fluff. Our thermostat is set to 15 degrees C; we add extra heat to the living area when necessary with our wood stove, fuelled by our own trees.

 

Laura

[nono]

Caveat to my answer, which is the first choice in the poll.

 

Only May - October. So 1/2 of the year. :)

 

Oh, I should also note that our water costs 10x more during June/July/August. So it's beer money or water on continuously... ;)

[Rosie_0801]

I can't shower with the water off. Maybe I'm just spoiled... but I get too cold!

 

Me too! Dh turns the shower off. He's tougher than I am. :) We don't take long in the shower though, just a few minutes. I justify myself by thinking I would waste more water by turning it off, because I'd have to fiddle around to adjust the temperature again. Being at the end of a years long drought, we often don't flush the loo, to save water. It gets to be a habit. We certainly don't run the tap while we're brushing our teeth. Where we used to live, we had buckets in the shower to catch water for the garden, and we'd catch from the washing machine too. We don't need to do that for so much of the year where we live now. We have a bath now so during summer I'll haul the kids' bathwater for the garden.

 

Rosie

Edited October 2, 2011 by Rosie_0801

[IsabelC]

We don't turn of the tap or have a stingy-water-thingy. But we do keep showers pretty short. I can shower in 2 minutes, 1 if I'm not washing my hair. If I'm really luxuriating, I might take 4-5 minutes, but never longer than that.

[TheReader]

During dry season, we turn off the water; we do not have water conserving shower heads.

 

I would not do it except out of necessity, though. During dry season, the water table gets so low that our neighborhood periodically shuts off the water from the street, so we have to conserve what's in our tank or we'll actually run out inside too.

 

During rainy season, nope.

 

I only wish that dry season was summer....it gets very very cold turning off the hot water when it's 13* C in the house....

[reign]

I have never heard of people turning the shower off. Learn something new every day. :)

[Parrothead]

One does not get wet in Maine in winter and not immediately dry oneself and put on dry clothing. Even indoors. So no. I do not turn off the water until I am ready to get out and get dry and dressed.

[MamaT]

I do not turn off the water while I'm showering, but we do have water-conversing shower heads. I had no idea that people actually did that - it sounds like a very uncomfortable way to get clean to me.