QuickTip: Make shorter showers more fun

Shorter showers save money, but really how much?

It makes perfect sense that when you use less water, you’ll save on water and energy bills.

But, here’s some motivation that may blow your mind. According to the EPA, showering is one of the leading ways we use water in our homes. It actually accounts for close to 17 percent of our indoor water use, which is about 30 gallons everyday. Add all of our showering stats together, and that’s about 1.2 trillion gallons of water used in the United States every year. If you that is just too big to deal with, think about this: We use about 1.8 gallons of hot water for each minute we shower. So each minute really does add up.

Easier said than done. Sometimes we lose track of time in the shower.

I know our 10-year-old Lexi often daydreams during her showers, and with our water heater, well, it means frustratingly colder showers for the rest of us.

So here’s a fun solution using these little time-conscious farm friends to help her stay on track of the time.

Yes, we’re talking animal timers.

And if a MOO or an OINK doesn’t snap her back to reality, we’ll just have to see if there’s a fire engine or police car timer that can really to the meditative-break-through trick.

If you are wondering if there’s an app for that, there is.

ShowerTime lets you know when it’s time to stop the water, calculates the amount of water used and the cost of each shower for you.