The drought in California just seems to be getting worse, and we're feeling more and more guilty about our most wasteful indulgence: long showers. Steph's blogged shower timers, a workable solution to that problem for those of us a bit low in self-control. Wasting a bit of plastic in the service of saving hundreds of gallons of water seems reasonable, and when that plastic is as cute as the turtle shower timer here, we're awfully tempted...

The cuteness saves water, but boy, does it cost money. You can buy it online for $20, which is a lot to spend for any single-purpose thing, especially when the simple $4 model (which manufacturer Ripple says is now made without PVC) would probably do the trick just as well.

On the other hand, there's nothing to keep us from digging through a few of our old board games and rigging up a suitable contraption from an old hourglass or two...