This year is all about saving money every day while trying to increase your income potential. If you did one thing each day that could save as little as $5 over the course of a year, you could have an extra $1800 in your pocket at the end of the year. Not all of these tips may apply to you, so to keep it fair, not all of them will apply to me.
Thank you to Cheapskate Sandy from ‘Yes, I Am Cheap‘ for making this an Editor’s Pick in the 212th Festival of Frugality.
So in my family we called it a “Navy Shower.” You turn on the water to rinse, and turn it off to soap. Turn it on to rinse again, and out you go. This is really helpful for people who are on metered water. In our apartment complex, our water is flat-rate, so there isn’t a lot of immediate cost savings. I still often take a modified “Navy Shower” to shave my legs. I get sick of watching the perfectly applied shave gel get drizzled off my legs so that I cut myself.
You can take it a step further to a “Bucket Shower.” You get two washcloths and a bucket full of warm to hot water. Washcloth #1 gets dipped in the bucket and is used to wet your body and hair. Washcloth #2 gets dipped and soaped, and is used on your hair and body. You then use the rinse washcloth to rinse off. A good castile soap like Dr. Bronner’s is good for camping and bucket showers as it rinses well and is environmentally-friendly.
The furthest you can go in the shower streamlining process is the “whore’s bath.” (Sorry, I didn’t mean to lose my family-friendly rating, but I’m not sure what else to call it.) You take a wet (hopefully soapy) cloth or baby wipe and clean under your arms and between your legs. Not recommended for more than an emergency outing you weren’t planning on.
Need another way to drop your shower time? Run a small amount of corn starch or baby powder through your hair. It helps dry out hair oils and gives you the time you need to run your kids to school, or get to the early morning class you almost slept through, and you still look decent.
I’m going to say this can save you $10 a year in product and/or water. (If your product stays on your body instead of going down the drain, you use less and there’s no reapplication.)
365 Days of Saving Money: $495 Annually
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a funny post, plus it has good advice for cutting down water usage. Plus, I love that it allows for a little extra green to stay in the pocket while being a bit more eco-green by using less agua.
This topic also resonants with me because for my family, "it's a desert out there"… as you know having lived in Las Vegas. Growing up my mom would always knock on the bathroom door when I was showering and shout "we live in a desert, hurry up!". And that was even with my showers only being 5 minutes. These days I try to conserve water by the first method you mentioned, however there are days that I just keep the water running (gulp) the whole time… I guess it is a mix of rebellion and indulgence based on my experience with the water dictator Mama of mine ; ). Hehe. Not as green as I could be on those days, but I guess it is a balance, no?
LOL! I'd never heard the "whore's bath" term.
My other called it a "sponge bath"…but we always used a washcloth. Guess back on the farm in upstate New York, where my mother grew up without running water in the 1910s, they must have had sponges instead of washcloths.
These days, what with trying to economize by leaving the heater off as much as possible, it's just TOO COLD for a Navy bath! Brrrr!!!! But in the summer when it's 110 in the desert, I use the hose in the backyard to shower & wash my hair–no problem turning it off between soapings, no need to use hot water, and you get to water and fertilize the trees every time you bathe.
@Jules: I totally agree that the desert gives it a different perspective. Even growing up in California, I remember the, "It it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down" mantra. Water is an extremely precious resource. I always used to time my showers to keep them at 3.5 minutes, and I still do really well from spring through fall, but it just gets too cold here in the winter. I honestly use the shower to get warm sometimes.
@Funny:
Yeah, in our household definitions the sponge bath was if you sponged everywhere, and the "whore's bath" was if you only washed private areas. See, I should've included the sponge bath, too. 
I think that's awesome that you take advantage of the summer weather to be green and resourceful. I don't think my apartment neighbors would let me (or worse they'd enjoy it) but I do try and keep the water consumption to a minimum.
My demure mum referred to a "whore's bath" as "P.T.A" …short for the 3 body parts involved.
K – Hilarious!