Saving Money on Your Showers

Necessity is the mother of invention, right? (Or in this case, an idea, lol).  My shower at home is in need of repair. Right now I don't have the money to fix it, so my other option is taking a bath, as I don't have another shower at home. I'm not a big fan of baths, but I am a fan of cleanliness, lol.  It occured to me that I am regularly at the gym and I could shower before I come home, which is something that I have never bothered to do because I didn't like the idea of dragging all my stuff down there.  But I got to thinking. Would it be more frugal of me to shower at the gym? Ok, hear me out. This might sound like a weird tip.  It's not for everyone, and it won't save significant amounts of money, but every little bit counts, right?

Showering at the gym might sound like an odd suggestion. If you are not already paying a monthly membership, then this might not be a frugal tip that works for you. Through my husband's employer we have access to a discounted rate at a local gym. I recently tried this out. It's really not that bad. The showers at my gym are quite nice. And let's face it. You're not likely to actually take a 10 minute shower at the gym. That just seems like a long shower when you know other people also need the showers, so if it helps you shorten it, that's also good for the environment. :)

How much water per minute do you use in a shower? It really depends on your shower. The National Standard in the United States is 2.5 gallons per minute. Most showers vary from 2-4 gallons per minute (gpm). However, according to this website, if your bathroom was designed before 1992, your shower head likely puts out 5 or 5.5 gallons per minute. Keep in mind that each shower head varies, and you might have a low flow shower head. You could do the math on your own shower if you would like to. For sake of example, we'll go with the 2.5 gallons per minute.

A few tips:

1. Shorten your showers. This will save money and water.

2. Now...you could take a bath instead. Keep in mind that the average bathtub can hold about 80 gallons of water. If you have a larger tub, this number will increase. If this is a solution you choose, then you probably don't want to fill up the tub very far. Half full, the bathtub would still hold 40 gallons, which is equivalent to a 16 minute shower.  Showers really are more economical.

3. Install a low-flow shower head that uses fewer gallons per minute.

4. Shower less often. (Whatever that is for you, but still, please be clean and hygenic, lol.)

5. Shower at the gym or YMCA (or wherever you workout).

6. Lower the temperature on your water heater to 120 degrees F (or lower).

Examples:
Let's assume that you take a 10 minute shower. That's 25 gallons per shower (based on the national average of 2.5 gpm, listed above). A 15 minute shower would result in 37.5 gallons per shower. According to this website, the average cost of a 10 minute shower is $2.10 if you have an older shower head. However, if you have a low-flow shower head, the cost is only $0.91 per 10 minute shower.

Let's stick with our example of a 10 minute shower. I figure if I were to shower at the gym 5 days per week, I'd save 125 gallons of water weekly at home. That's 6500 gallons of water yearly.  If we stick with the $2.10 per shower math, that would result in a savings of $10.50 per week ($546 per year) . That seems kind of high to me, but I guess it just depends on where you live, what you pay, and your shower head.  However, again, if you have a low-flow shower head, then at $0.91 per 10 minute shower, you'd save $4.55 per week by showering at the gym 5 times weekly ($236.60 per year).   Another website lists that an average 10 minute shower costs about $1.12. If we go with this number, showering 5x a week at the gym would save you $5.60 per week ($291.20 per year). Is anyone else shocked by these numbers? I'm quite surprised, I must say. Again, I am basing this on information I found on the interent, so if it's wrong, I'm sorry.

I can't say for certain how much you pay per gallon of water for utilities. There's a lot of varying information out there, and each location is likely different. It also depends on how hot you keep your water and how you heat it, with electricity, propane, or natural gas. Also, how efficient is your water heater? It's not something I can say for sure, and I wish I could. I wish I could just say, hey, you'll save "x" amount if you do this, but I can't.   However, I did find this cool Water Heating Cost Calculator  that might help you. Just get out your bills and plug in the numbers. That might be the easiest way for you to figure it out.

PS..... If it motivates you to get out the door to the gym, you'll be more healthy and fit in the long run and you're getting your money's worth out of your gym membership. Bonus!

(I will try to figure out some great ideas for toting my stuff back and forth easily and I'll post how-to's when I do. If you have suggestions, please send them my way!)