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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if DH's shower routine is as mad as I think?

208 replies

Everyoneafter3 · 02/02/2017 17:43

My dh is slightly obsessive about being 'green'. We recycle, compost, walk short journeys etc.

However, his greatest obsession concerns the wasting of water. To that end, when he showers, he will turn off the water while he's lathering up. He says it saves water. I say any savings are negated by the fact the shower will have to warm up again and the boiler will have to do this twice.

WIBU to suggest this is bonkers?

OP posts:
Joanna0685 · 02/02/2017 18:58

I once went to a friends house when I was a child in Australia and it was family policy to only flush the toilet for number 2's. They were very open about it, my Mum forgot and flushed it!!

Secretsandlies12 · 02/02/2017 19:01

Everyone does that in California.

CrohnicallyPregnant · 02/02/2017 19:02

mrsDV do you qualify for watersute? IIRC if you receive certain benefits and have disabled people in the house requiring more water then you can get your bills capped so you pay no more than the average meter user.

sashh · 02/02/2017 19:02

He should really get a small jug of hot water, step in to the shower, use the water in the jug to lather up his shampoo and gel and only then step under the shower.

No I don't do this.

CrohnicallyPregnant · 02/02/2017 19:03

That should be watersure! (No glasses on! Just got out of the shower and no I didn't pause it to lather up, it's electric and takes a while for the temp to settle. If I'm shaving then I do as I feel I save more water than waste it getting it back to temp)

Nzou1050 · 02/02/2017 19:04

I grew up doing this as we had one tank of hot water that would run out if everyone didn't do this and it had to last for everyone's baths/showers. Now I have a combi boiler so don't bother, I just keep the water running.

PickAChew · 02/02/2017 19:05

I do it in summer, when it's nice and warm and our mains water isn't barely above freezing. Our water pressure is often shite, though, as our local pumping station is useless and we're rather high up, so running water straight down the plughole probably has a neighbour swearing because their washer is beeping because it's not filling fast enough!

riceuten · 02/02/2017 19:12

The M-I-L is like this, but she's German, and they (always) pay for every drop and she's also meaner than mean. I usually wait to have a shower when she's not around so I don't get the lecture about "wasting water" and "You're not in England now"

She also is obsessed with the electricity bill, and how much a 60 watt bulb costs for 5 minutes, but thinks that low-energy lightbulbs "give you cancer", so refuses to have them. That said, she will turn a striplight on and off 3 or 4 times in a row and refuses to believe that the costs with them is in the starting, and they cost relatively little to leave running.

plimsolls · 02/02/2017 19:13

Our crap electric shower takes too long to get to temperature so I think it would waste water but actually I've never thought about it.

Now this thread has made me think about it and I don't get why you need the first step..... if I were worried about wasting water, I think I would do it as follows:
Stick my hair under the tap in the sink to wet it (as it's just hair doesn't matter that water is cold/tepid and only need a tiny bit)
lather shampoo in hair
Lather shower gel on dry body
Then turn shower on and rinse everything.

I don't get why you'd use the shower to get yourself wet first, if you're bothered about wasting water.

Fatrascals · 02/02/2017 19:18

This reply has been deleted

Withdrawn at request of author

Penfold007 · 02/02/2017 19:18

We have a combi-boiler so switching it on and off mid-shower results in a blast of ice cold water. I'd rather be quick than cold.
I think it's madness that in the UK we flush the toilet, run washing machines, dishwashers etc with drinking water.

howCanwedo12 · 02/02/2017 19:19

I turn the water off, while I shampoo my wet hair (and later when I condition it) and turn it on again, to save water...(it turns on again at the same temperature) I thought it was a sensible way of saving water....

TowerRavenSeven · 02/02/2017 19:19

I had a boyfriend that did this because he grew up with it. Needless to say he suggested it to me and I told him no way!

I can almost justify it here where I live now, since we are in the Southwest/desert. Almost but not quite.

howCanwedo12 · 02/02/2017 19:21

Our house is 10 years old, no combi boiler thank god...! (Which means to us that the water is a constant temperature, and also runs out if annoying teenagers use too much, I'd hate for them to have never ending hot water on a water meter. Our water tank is huge, so we can all manage pretty well)

Chloe84 · 02/02/2017 19:21

My mum turns the shower off, but she lathers and loofahs her whole body which can take several minutes, so I can see why she does it.

howCanwedo12 · 02/02/2017 19:22

To reiterate, we are on a water meter and there's a few of us....so any saving is good :-)

museumum · 02/02/2017 19:26

It takes me all of ten seconds to lather my body.
I wash my hair while my body rinses off. Conditioner on in one swipe then scrub my face, rinse conditioner and out.
I honestly don't see where I have time to be putting the shower off and in again.

Shaving my legs I do over the bath as I find it easier.

Whisky2014 · 02/02/2017 19:28

Well, i hope he pees in the shower too as that also saves water :)

Gabilan · 02/02/2017 19:31

I have stopped cleaning out baked bean tins, mayo jars etc as I reckon the amount of water I use negates any benefit from the recycling

I give them a quick rinse in the washing up water after I've done the stuff that needs to be really clean, so I'm not using any extra water. I don't think it's purely about the energy used but also about what ends up in landfill.

Hallors90 · 02/02/2017 19:33

My other half does this...and then complains that I don't! Angry

RowRowRowtheFookingBoat · 02/02/2017 19:36

Ha wish mine did.. he sits down in the shower and treats it like a bath 😱😱😱

70ontheinside · 02/02/2017 19:39

I am Shock at the amount of people who leave their water running when showering, brushing their teeth or washing up!

1frenchfoodie · 02/02/2017 19:53

I don't do this but don't find it oarticularly strange. I had a haircut in Malaysia once and they lathered my hair with watered down shampoo in the seat and then took me to a sink. A bit od a surprise but less wasteful of water

I am with paxillin though, if he finds his technique worth harping on about there must be something you can educate him on in an equally constructive manner...

Disneyhasbrainwashedmyfamily · 02/02/2017 19:56

I do this! Don't shoot I HAD to do this at my first flat as the water would completely run out if I didn't! The water tank was small and the power shower was too powerful for it, so if I was washing my hair but didn't turn it off while I lathered, I wouldn't be able to rinse the conditioner off! But I continue to do it to this day and also hate people leaving the taps running while they brush their teeth etc I'm mentally scarred by it people Grin

Northend77 · 02/02/2017 19:57

I used to do this when my hair was down to my waist as it would take so long to comb all the conditioner through it! Now I have young twins I barely have time for it all so have shorter hair and my showers are now 5 minutes! If i shower with my girls I put the plug in so it gradually fills up for them to splash about in and then I turn if off whilst I condition twin 1's hair - hers takes longer than mine used to!
I always turn the tap off whilst brushing my teeth and am teaching my girls to do the same as DH leaves it on and that really bugs me. He often has 30 minute showers too Grrrrrrr!