My indulgence



Photo courtesy of Petr Kratochvil



Get ready -- I'm about to announce a not-so-green habit of mine. Hot baths. Lots and lots of hot baths. Very few things beat a hot bath in my book. I love taking baths. I take baths to get warm when I catch a chill. I take baths when I am tense and need to relax. I take baths to escape the stresses of the day. I take baths in the morning, when I wake up feeling cold. I take baths when I want to spend time with a novel (currently it's Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner). I add Epsom Salts or apple cider vinegar. I light candles. I spend hours and hours in the tub.

Of course, it helps that I live in the city of three rivers where we do not have a shortage of water. But still, as Green Grandma, my bath habit, which has become more and more frequent as the temperatures have dropped, isn't exactly green.

So....after giving this some thought, I came up with a solution of sorts and decided to pass this idea on to the rest of you. Here is how my baths are becoming eco-friendly -- instead of draining the tub when I am done, we are dumping the water into the toilet. With a bucket conveniently placed under the sink, we just scoop up the water and pour it into the toilet, as needed, thus eliminating the need to flush!

This serves three purposes -- an ecological one, an economical one and a psychological one. By not using additional water to flush the toilet, we should see our water and sewage bills go down and I don't feel guilty filling the tub simply to relax or warm up.

Now, while I do think this is a good way to repurpose tub water, I do not recommend it for families with young children. The last thing I need is for one of my tips to result in the drowning of one of your precious little ones!

So, that is how I solved one of my un-green issues. How about you? Any ideas to share? I'd love to hear them.

Trying to keep it green,

Hana