Reducing consumption 3

Continued from yesterday...

• Only water lawns as really necessary
• Consider replace a grass lawn with appropriate low-maintenance-and-low-water-use landscaping (well done, this also looks a lot more attractive than a grass lawn)
• Water efficiently
• Take showers instead of baths
• Take short showers (I'm guilty of losing myself in the shower)
• With caution, consider a space heater in one or two key rooms and turn down the thermostat for the rest of the house
• Don't drink a glass of water and put the glass into the dirty dishes. Use a single glass for the day
• Don't spend money on bottled water. The dirty secret of that industry is that it's not only LESS regulated than the water from the tap, it often IS water from public sources. Buy a filter system if you don't trust your local water system
• If you have house plants, wash vegetables and drain rinse water from rice and beans and cooking water from pasta into a dishpan, then use that water to water the house plants. You get a second use from the water, and the plants can often make use of the nutrients in the water   

There are lots of other ideas, of course, these are just the ones I could come up with in a single, quick brainstorming session. My last post on this particular topic will be in two or three days...