The most water gathered was from heating up the water before the shower, and after the shower.  (You know, after you’re down showering, when you turn off the water, that little button-like device that turns the shower water into the faucet water pops down and a lot of extra water comes out at the end after it’s off.)  Just before I knew I was going to turn the water off, I’d stick the bucket under and almost a full liter would come out each time.

You may be wondering, what does one do with all of that water throughout the year, especially during the colder months? It was used in a number of ways.  As previously mentioned, watering my indoor plants, plants on the porches during the warmer months, and the Christmas tree during December, but mostly, it was used to flush the toilet, which is a little wonderful secret that remains elusive to many people.  If your toilet is full of (liquid) waste, you can pour the bucket of water down and it will not only flush, but refill some of the way.  It’s really quite amazing if you’ve never tried it before.  Our household is also a “if it’s yellow, let it mellow” one, so the times that the toilet is actually flushed each day is minimal.

At this point, I’d like to think that you’re wowed and awed by the findings.  But, I’d like to drive the point home a little more, if I may.  Let’s face it, in the U.S., we live in a patriarchal, capitalist society, based on consumption, aggression and power.  Meaning, we’ve aggressively tried to exercise our power over the environment by consuming mass amounts of our natural resources, and in turn dumping our excess into landfills and the air.  Therefore, saving water, composting, recycling, et al may seem counterintuitive considering the constant intake of advertising telling us to consume, consume, consume.  In short, wasting water seems normal to us because it’s completely acceptable, if not encouraged in other, more subtle queues in our daily lives.

Now that it’s 2013, the bucket has become a permanent fixture in the bathtub. Some have responded to my bucket with resistance, including disgusted facial expressions and my personal favorite, “My husband would never let me do that” (I’ll keep my response to that one to myself).  The biggest hurdle is accepting responsibility and making that commitment.  Saying that you’re going to “go green” is great, but our planet doesn’t really care about your empty promises.  I am by no means “there” yet–I don’t ride my bike everywhere, I occasionally forget my coffee mug at the coffee shop, and I still put a lot of crap into the landfill.  But, day by day, the attempt is made to do what’s right and accept accountability for how I treat the earth.  It suffices to say that my six liter pink-handled bucket is now a part of our family; hopefully it will become a part of yours.

Below: my bucket today, catching water from a leaky faucet.

2014 Update: The faucet has been fixed, but water is still being saved in other creative ways-water from blanching chard, water left over from canning, et al.