To be irked at the waste of water?

[LazySusan11]

Teen dsd (this is not a step child issue!) she likes a bath often however each time she fills the bath up until it’s almost overflowing gets in for less than 15 minutes then pulls the plug and uses the shower to wash her hair.

This really pisses me off! I can tell her til I’m blue in the face she doesn’t listen.

AIBU? Please say no!

Yanbu. Explain to her about wasting water and the cost of heating the water etc...can't she just shower if she is washing her hair and then have a nice long bath on a weekly basis or something when she just wants to relax (and not wash her hair)? Or get a shower head for the bath and she can half fill the bath then start washing her hair with that in the bath etc...?

I'm a continent away but we have severe water shortages at the moment so it does irk me...

I'm on a water meter and baths are banned. My OH thinks nothing of filling it up to the top and as he doesn't live here I've pointed out that if he wants to languish in the tub hr can do it in his own home.
My sons also like a bath yet are in and out in 5 minutes so they have been banned too!
So there you go I (the bill payer) dictate 3 people's washing habits. YANBU

I would do what a colleague did when she wanted to reduce her electricity bill (for environmental reasons more than cost). She put the last electricity bill on the fridge and told her teenage children that she would split any reduction in the next bill with them. Did this for a couple of months until everyone got into the new habits. So stick the water bill on the fridge and tell her the same.

I would also frame it for your DSD as wanting to be more environmentally responsible rather than cost. My teens are highly conscious of environmental issues - money not so much.

We don't have a problem with baths in this house but DS spends 30 mins plus under the electric shower every day. He moved out for 9 months a couple of years ago and the electricity bill dropped by £30per month due to the reduction in shower time and the lights not being on all over the house. Thats £360 a year saved just on electricity! Then he moved back home. I tried to explain that he didn't need to spend that long in the shower but I'm afraid it fell on deaf ears!

He has gone away again now so I am looking forward to the reduction in electricity bills again. He just rang me from Uni and exclaimed that it was going to cost him £4.80 to wash and dry one load of washing - welcome to the real world son!

Take the plug off.

Bosh.

rat my Dad used to switch off my radiator if I was out the room for more than five mins!! Definitely not that strict with my kids.
pizza are you on a meter?

The thing is though, unless you live in a water shortage area, the 'waste' makes hardly any difference. Compared to the amount used in industry it's a drop in the ocean, and not using it wouldn't mean there's any more clean water for people who do live in shortage areas. Not that individual responsibility isn't admirable - but it's almost like the 'eat past the point of fullness - people in Africa are starving' argument.

The point is that it costs money, the last estimate I saw (probably out of date now) was that a full bath costs about £1 in gas, so added to the water bill that's probably £9 per week at least - £468 a year for every single day.

How about saying she can have 20p every time she only fills the bath half way, and 50p if she just has a shower instead, would soon add up?

I have a pretty full bath every night - but I'm paying my own bills :)

Gandalf it isn't the wasted water than makes me grind my teeth so much as the carbon produced heating it! Unless everyone's having stone cold baths or is solely reliant on renewable energy that's some fossil fuels being burnt right there. We're all responsible for doing the little things we can because the impact of carbon emissions is serious and it's everyone's problem, as I understand it.

Good point rat

I'm embarrassed - I was thinking about waste water so much I forgot about the fossil fuels.

(We have 'green' electricity - I think that means they put money back into getting the renewable % up, but I'm not actually sure)

We have hydro here so I'm allowed baths!

Maybe encouraging the government to invest in more renewable (or getting solar panels) rather than legislating a teenager's bathing habits...

You’ll be surprised how quickly you run out of clean water during drought. We had a drought and was put on water restrictions. No one could use sprinklers or anything

Also in not saying it's relevant to the OP, but I was thinking about this yesterday after reading a pp's comment about us not having a shortage of water in the UK so it doesn't matter; I'm not sure it's okay to be wasteful with a resource just because we're in the privileged position of having a lot of it. It reminded me vaguely of that well-off student burning £20 notes in front of a homeless guy. I mean is it okay to be wasteful with food for example just because an individual might be able to afford to be?

Like I say probably an exaggerated example of my point, but that was just my musing.

I'm not saying it's relevant to the op - typo!

I'm really surprised any bill-paying adult is siding with the daughter!

I agree you should gently show her the bill, and perhaps bribe incentivise her to cut down with maybe a share of the savings.

I mean, it's not just the cost either but it may help to show her the actual volumes.

Plus, isn't your water heated by gas? My bills were through the roof when I lived in a bath-only house, from the cost of heating the water. Also, do you have a combi boiler? Is your hot water totally on tap or is she using the tank up and depriving others in the house?

We had a drought and was put on water restrictions. No one could use sprinklers or anything

were baths banned ?

Does the bathplug have a chain? Tie a ribbon marker half-ish way up, and tell her that's how deep she can have her bath.

It won't kill her to learn to be a bit more economical with the hot water. I'm forever banging on the bathroom door yelling at my own kids about it.

YANBU, this kind of waste would really bother me. On principle, I guess. Those saying you can't wash your hair in the bath, I agree - for this reason, if my hair needs washing, I have a shower, and if it doesn't, I twist it up out of the way and have a bath. No need for both, surely?

No they just ask us to be careful, the drinking water was really low for the whole city. They fined anyone who did waste water outdoors though

www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/WaterSupplyWaterQuantity/Drought.aspx