That's great. But do all of you need to shower every day? Its obviously a personal thing but more and more people I know (including me) are finding our skin feels much better if we don't do the seemingly obligatory daily shower.

^^^ ew, in humid hot places showering is required daily. At least once.

I did the above method but watered my entire container garden for the whole year. Worked out great. My toilet has a sink in the back tank so no water wasted there either.

I can't imagine skipping a day without showering. I too have been collecting the water that comes before it reaches the optimal warmness I desire and using it to flush the toilet. I grew up during a drought and we were taught to not waste such a precious resource. It is amazing how much water you waste by letting it run down the drain, and we've saved a good sum on our water bill. It also brings a peace of mind to know that I am not wasting.

I live in Israel and collect this water too! I use it to water my plants, not flush... you're making me wonder if we can switch around our habits.

This sounds like such a great idea, and I'm sorry for the stupid question, but how do you use the water to flush? Do you fill the tank with the shower water, so when it's refilling after a flush, you pour it in before it fills? Obviously I have zero concept of how my plumbing works, but I'd like to give this a try. ;)

@Poe -
When you need to flush, instead of using the handle, you dump the bucket of water somewhat quickly into the toilet bowl. It takes some practice to not splash the entire bathroom, and I suggest raising the seat first. Go to YouTube and search "bucket flush".

i wouldnt use the water i washed my veggies with to water my plants - the whole point of washing my veggies is to get rid of as much chemicals on them as possible (when its not organic), which would make the water full of chemicals, right? cool idea for saving water though!

Like Poe, I'm confused too. And I'm sorry, I still don't get it - if you dump the water into the bowl, doesn't the bowl just fill up that much more? Don't you still need to flush with the handle?

lynnebee, if you dump the water in quickly, it flushes. All the handle does is release water quickly from the tank into the bowl--same thing.

I like how this is titled "Without trying", when really, there is a lot of trying involved.

In response to those who think its gross not to shower daily...I live in Texas so I definitely shower daily, but I only wash my hair every 2-3 days (thankfully I have thick, coarse hair which doesn't get oily)...which in itself saves alot of water since my shower time is drastically reduced.

My family is European so I grew up with the shower every 2-3 days philosophy. When I hit middle school I started showering every day because it's what my friends did (I didn't want to be considered weird or smelly), but I got terrible dry skin and dandruff and my hair dried out from all of the chlorine in our local water combined with the chemicals in the soap and shampoo. By the time I hit high school I'd re-adopted the every other day model and I've kept it up ever since. In the summer I'll adjust depending on the amount of time I spend in the heat, but I NEVER wash my hair every day. If it starts to look oily I just put it up, and the less often I wash it the longer it takes to get oily anyway. I do take long showers though, and I'm thinking I might have to try this to offset my total water use. It would be good for rinsing dishes or hand washing delicate laundry.

I greened up my showers by installing a hand held head with a water pause button. I also stopped doing things such as running water to wet my toothbrush and paste before use.

I'd ultimately adjust the hot water heater if water was generally taking a long time to warm up.

I disagree that there's a lot of trying involved.
Put a jug under the spout, wait a bit, and then move it out. Proceed to use it for flushing/watering/etc. You don't even need to use it right away.
Even I, a morning-hating, self-professed Lazy Pants, could totally do this with little thought or effort.
I think the hardest part is finding an attractive jug/container I'd want to leave out in the bathroom.

Why not get a tankless water heater? It's almost instantly hot and saves you on the electricity bill as well as you don't need to constantly heat water.

For those curious about how to flush with this water: Toilets will release what is in the bowl when the water pressure gets high enough. there is a rubber valve cover that will open when there is enough water pushing on it. When the tank dumps water in, the pressure on this valve increases and thus it opens to let the bowl contents out. This works the same way when you pour water in manually.

When I was a kid, our well went dry on a regular basis in the summer so we always had a 5-gallon bucket filled up in each bathroom for this purpose.

Um...LitNerds family may well be European, but showering infrequently is not the norm in Europe. At least not here in Norway, where we definitely shower once a day.

I need a shower every day. Walking around DC makes me feel like I have a film of grime on me when I get home. My wife, on the other hand, showers every 3rd day... so between the two of us, it evens out to every other day.

This is how a toilet works: http://home.howstuffworks.com/toilet2.htm

thirster42: not everyone owns their home, and even if they do, replacing the water heater isn't cheap.

@katti-Every other day isn't infrequent, and in all of the European countries I've visited (granted, Norway wasn't one of them), showering every day was usually seen as excessive unless you worked in a job that was particularly physically strenuous.

um, gross question: do you get splashback on the bucketflush? otherwise, all great ideas. i am SO guilty of water wastage, while professing to be a conservation-minded person. thanks for the reminder!

This is a great idea! It reminds me a little bit (I don't know why) of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gESV9nTMBTc