nice T A P

I can admit it now. I'm one of those people who never turn{ed} off the water when I brushed my teeth. I'd let the shower run {and run and run and run} until it was toasty warm and then some before jumping in. I never had a problem filling my whirlpool tub to the brim to enjoy the jacuzzi. Now, I can barely fit into our one tub, so that's one area solved.
I've been guilty of keeping the sprinklers on until flooding the yard/garden routinely. In addition to never recycling, I've always wasted water because... who knows? It was easy to? I never worried about running out. More embarrassing, I never made a conscious effort not to. 

Horrible, I know, but the first step to change is admitting it, right? As a whole, I believe our society is very wasteful. Living in this very green country, I'm more aware of it than I have ever been. I fall smack dab in the middle of wastefulness especially when it comes to water- until now.

Previously, being on a well we didn't pay a dime for water. Oh my how things have changed here. Water is SUPER expensive- enough to get my attention. We have yet to get our first bill and are very, very afraid. Our friends {family of five} figured out they paid an average of maybe $260 USD per month- just for water. Yikes, that's a lot!

With our neighbors on holiday last week, I told her I'd watch her yard and water her flowers if she needed. Grateful, she let me know she had water in the back. I had seen these buckets, but until we had a rain, I didn't realize how awesome their set up is. They have a tap right in their guttering, so all of the rain is collected from the house for watering plants and their garden. So smart.

They also save the water from boiling pasta or veges and use it for their plants. Why dump it down the drain- it's good water? They don't waste anything over here. I really want to be more like them in this way.

Free well water or not, I want this tap on our house guttering when we move back and are settled. I think it is the coolest thing.The water was gushing in to it filling the bucket to overflowing. I filled her watering pots up and moved some to the other bucket. It was SO much water- just from a quick rain.

I feel a little crazy, but I've started putting my little bucket in the shower to fill up {for my flowers} while waiting for the water to warm up for my shower. The other day- just in warming up I had almost four gallons. What a waste that would normally go down the drain.

I've also started turning the water off while brushing my teeth. Now, if we could get Ty to take a shorter shower... We're working on it.