Persimmon Glen

I have three five gallon containers which I fill with drinkable water and three thirty five gallon rain barrels that I keep filled with either water from the creek or rainwater.

The only thing I really use the drinkable water for is coffee and cooking and water for the dogs, so it goes a long way. 

When I first moved here in the early spring baths consisted of half filling a  washtub with creek water. I learned to  easily bathe and wash my hair with about four gallons of water. I keep a milk jug  filled with clean water for rinsing. This winter I learned to use even less. You can easily do it with about 2 gallons if you really want to conserve.

Here's how it's done:

First, warm your water any way you like. You can use a cook stove, a coffeepot or a microwave, whatever you have. Go easy on the soap, you don't need as much as you think to get clean. You can also use baking soda, which really works very well. Here's an excellent article from Mother Earth News on that method Baking Soda Bath

Baking soda is also wonderful for washing your hair and even brushing your teeth. If you google it you'll find dozens of uses for baking soda. Buy a large box of it found in the laundry aisle at your favorite grocery store.

Standing in the tub, wash your body first, then rinse with the water in the milk jug. Dry off and dress, then bending over the tub wash your hair next, using clean water from the jug to rinse. Try using a little Apple Cider Vinegar in your rinse water. It's better than any store bought conditioner. Rainwater will make your hair soft without using any conditioner.

The bathwater gets dumped onto plants outside.

For washing dishes, all you need is two dishpans, one for washing, one for rinsing. You can empty the wash water onto plants also. The rinse pan I then use to mop the floor with. Add a little dish soap (Try Palmolive Free & Clear or Liquid Castile) and about a half cup of baking soda and mop away.

The used mop water is terrific for plants. Its a great fungicide and will really help soil that is too acidic. The soap also makes a good organic pesticide.

It only takes about a half cup of water to brush your teeth.I dip my brush into a small cup to wet it, apply a tiny amount of toothepaste, brush and spit, a mouthful to rinse, then swirl it into the remaining water to rinse it out.

Baking soda has an astounding array of uses. Here's a book I recommend to find out more Baking Soda, 500 uses, Vickie Lansky

I have a milk jug I use with the top part cut out leaving a handle for any waste water. That goes onto the compost pile when it gets full. It usually takes a week to fill it up.

As the weather warmed, I built an outside shower. This is a terrific way to conserve water. You can use a found plastic pallet for the floor and sawmill lumber to build the walls. Use rocks from your property to fill in the floor for drainage. I have a total of $40 in the shower house itself. 

I put a gutter on the storage shed that empties into a fifty gallon rainbarrel. From there, I siphon the water into a 7 gallon wooden nail keg inside the shower house which has a 1/4 HP Utility Pump  in it which I purchased from Amazon.

This pumps your water into a Portable Tankless Water Heater which with a small lp gas tank gives you a virtually unlimited supply of hot water.

If you don't have electricity to run a pump you can accomplish the same thing with a Zodi Instant shower. But I only recommend these for occasional usage. I don't think they hold up well for daily use.