9 Ways to Save Money in the Bathroom

Being a single income family often means we need to keep our spending to a minimum. We are always looking for ways to cut back on spending in various places so we will have just a little more for the things we really want to have or do. Here are 9 ways to save money in the bathroom, yes the bathroom.

There are a few simple and easy things you can do to trim the amount you are spending in the bathroom.

1. Use a Water Conserving Faucet & Shower Head

You can purchase both water conserving faucets and shower heads.

This is particularly money saving in the shower where with a typical shower head one 10 minute shower can use up to 42 gallons of water!  Low flow shower heads work by mixing air with the water and forcing it through tiny apertures. So you get just as wet with much less water.

To cut back on the amount of water you use from your sink, you need to have a faucet aerator on your faucet.  Many faucets already have them, and nearly all faucets are threaded to accept them. They should have a water flow rating on the side. Ideally you want it to be 2.75 gallons per minute or lower. If it is higher than this, replace it. Generally this is a simple matter of unscrewing it by hand and putting the new one on, also tightening it by hand.

2. Use a Shower Head You Can Easily Turn On/Off

Another way to conserve water in the shower is by having not only a low flow shower head but also making sure that  head has a shut-off valve on it. You save even more water if you use the shower to get wet, then cut the water off with the shut-off valve while you soap and scrub and shampoo, then turn the water back on to rinse.

3. Turn the Sink Water Off While Brushing Your Teeth

Just like when you are washing dishes in the kitchen, you shouldn’t leave the water running the whole time and  the same is true while brushing your teeth. Wet your toothbrush and then turn the water off. Don’t turn it on again until you are ready to rinse.

4. If It’s Yellow Let it Mellow, if it’s Brown Flush it Down

Not sure this one needs any explanation, but the idea is that you don’t have to flush the toilet every time someone pees.

In our house we really only do this in our upstairs bathroom. It actually started at night because I didn’t want to wake children with the flushing of the toilet, so I just left it. We then will then flush in the morning when we get up.

5. Shower Every Other Day

Instead of showering every day, cut back to every other day. This will cut the amount of water you use to shower in half! Along these lines you can also shorten the length of each shower to use even less water.

6. Add Water to Low Shampoo & Conditioner Bottles

When our shampoo or conditioner is getting low, we add a little water to the bottles. Then we shake the bottles to get all the extra that is clinging to the insides of the bottles. You can also often take the tops off the bottles to get more out of them.

7. Use Pump Style Bottles

We use pump style bottles . This allows us to measure and limit the amount of shampoo and conditioner that our children are using. Our son he only needs one pump of shampoo because he has short hair, but our daughters use 2 or 3.

8. Don’t Leave Bar Soap Under Water Flow

I don’t know if you have noticed this or not, but when we leave our bar soap in the built in soap holder that is about waist height on the long inside wall of our shower, it leaves a long train of soap scum in its wake. The shower water continually running over it wears the soap right down! This wastes a lot of soap! To avoid this, we keep the soap on a shower shelf that hangs from the shower head.

9. Hang & Reuse Towels

After you shower the idea is that you are clean. Thus using a towel more than once to dry yourself shouldn’t be a big deal. Instead of using a towel once and sending it to the wash, hang your towel for another day. We wash towels only once a week or once every other week depending on the person, usage, and any special circumstances which may warrant more frequent washing.

What ways have you found to save money in the bathroom?