How to Stop Taking Long Hot Showers?

[TopHatFox]

So over my childhood I unconsciously developed a bad habit of taking 20-60 minute [really] hot showers.

Considering the drying out effect of scorching water over a long period of time, and the crazy amount of heater/water usage, I'd like to switch to 5-10 minute lukewarm/cool showers, but I find it difficult to bring myself to do so, which is strange because I can usually change just about anything I want with myself as soon as I decide to (my video game use is much more casual now for any of you that remember that thread).

In any case, I read The Power of Habit, which says to analyze the routine (hot long showers), find out the reward (feels good on the skin, time to think about anything), and the cue (feel cold, smell bad, dirty).

I fixed the 'feeling cold' cue by just wearing more clothes, but the other two are the reason why showers exist, so I take the shower & I'm faced with the rewards feels-good-on-skin & time-to-think...50 minutes later...

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Thoughts?

[blackbird]

I am almost always a lurker, but this post inspired me to actually login for a change. Odd, I guess?

As I continue through life I see my peers, friends, family members all indulging in expensive things like new cars, giant houses, satellite / premium cable packages, etc.

I drive the same car I drove 10 years ago, we purchased a smaller, more ERE friendly house (as opposed to the 4000 ft.² place my friend just bought), and we pay the 13 bucks a month for Netflix streaming.

But my personal luxury has always been heat. For several years as a kid and young adult, the only heat we had in my house was a small kerosene heater and one electric heater in our bathroom. For the entire house. We would staple heavy plastic over the windows during the winter, and nail quilts up in the doorways. I am extremely thin and get cold very easy.

So I take hot showers. I've never taken a 60 min. shower, and I cannot imagine the size of a water heater required for something like that, but I definitely take 10 min. long, hot showers. To me it is a greater mark of civilization that I can indulge in this than being able to watch football or listen to satellite radio in an SUV. I know that many of my peers have never really been cold (or hungry or many other things that people in other parts of the world experience daily) so hot showers does not seem like a big deal to them. But to me it is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

I say all of this, I don't know why actually, but to your question, I would recommend just setting up a very strict routine and following through with it in the shower. Then maybe take one or 2 min. to yourself to just enjoy the hot water and get out. I spend almost no time just standing there, it is always wash hair, shave, wash body, enjoy water for a couple of minutes and get out. But those last few minutes are just enjoying the hot water.

[workathome]

Join the Military - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_shower

[TopHatFox]

Join the Military - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_shower

Haha is it weird that I actually thought about doing that?

[chicago81]

I'm not a fan of long hot showers. I feel too warm afterward. After toweling off from a hot shower, I am still feeling too warm, and I tend to perspire (thus, defeating the purpose of showering.) I also have very fair skin which can dry out easily.

I do usually take one or two short luke-warm showers per day. Once in the morning before work, and once in the evening if I work out (usually 4-5x per week)

I could be a glutton for water. My condo building is not metered for water in Chicago. The "cost" for water is just a flat fee that is rolled into the property taxes, I believe. My suburbanite coworkers are jealous when I tell them this

[theanimal]

Turn the faucet and get out early. Pretty simple really.

[Spartan_Warrior]

Take showers when you're already overheated (e.g. after exercise) so you're less interested in scorching heat. Could also try a timer/alarm to remind you after 10 minutes to get out--there are commercially available "shower alarms" for this purpose; costs $ but not much compared to empty water heaters.

[5to9]

I don't know if this would work in your case, but my showers are limited by the hectic mornings of trying to get the kids out the door on time. Perhaps starting your shower 15 minutes before you need to leave for class could help enforce the time restriction?

Not particularly useful long term if your goals is to ERE, but might help break the habit.

[Chris]

I'm with you zalo: a hot shower addict. Started at a young age. And yes, it is odd that I conserve in almost every other aspect of my life (electricity, gas, money), but not hot showers.

I have noticed though, that I maintain this practice only while at home in the US. When in Europe, it's more likely that the water heater is in the same room as the shower, with a glowing red indicator informing you that electricity is being used to heat the water for your luxurious ritual. I find that in those circumstances, I begin taking navy showers. Yet when I return.... back to my old ways.

[stand@desk]

If you want to stop taking hot showers, take a piece of paper, write down:

"I will take 5 minute hot showers maximum."

Sign the paper.

You have now committed to a new train of thought. It will constantly remind you to change to this new behaviour. It will gently nag at you. I believe this works.

Put this paper in your bathroom and look at it before you hop in the shower. You'll prefer to do as what you have signed your name to instead of not because the cognitive dissonance will take away the pleasure you once had from the long hot showers.

The only way to fail is to ignore or throw away what you have signed to. Don't do that until your habit has changed for 6 weeks.

Good Luck!

[Ego]

I'm with you zalo: a hot shower addict. Started at a young age. And yes, it is odd that I conserve in almost every other aspect of my life (electricity, gas, money), but not hot showers.

Growing up in a one-bathroom, five person home embedded quick showering into my genome. It is a habit.

That said, you can call me an enabler if you will, but I vote for forgetting shorter showers if done for conservation reasons....
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/ ... icle/4801/

[SimpleLife]

Perhaps you can buy/build or borrow a device that times the water for the shower. Although, in reality, you could just turn that back on when the timer runs out. Point is, there is no solution or replacement for self-discipline.

[Tommy]

Is your shower enclosed? If not, then your first step should be to enclose it.

An example:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Cozy-Lo ... stall-Why/

A technical explanation:
http://www.notechmagazine.com/2013/07/f ... owers.html

I enclosed my shower using an cheap shower curtain that I cut to the correct size, some double-sided tape, and some duct tape. Yes, it looks like it belongs on the 'There I Fixed It' blog, but it does the job. Depending on your shower setup and your skills maybe you'll figure out something better.

Basically, enclosing your shower traps all the heat inside the shower. After 5 minutes of full blast hot water, it's too hot to stand anymore and I turn it off. I suspect you will do the same, it gets suffocatingly hot.

The nice thing about an enclosed shower is that the heat and steam remains trapped within the shower stall, so you have a nice hot mini-sauna to enjoy even if you stop the water.

I hope this idea helps, it certainly helped me cut down on hot water usage.

[GPMagnus]

Move to Russia - life is far cheaper, the women are awesome and there is central heating which means you have hot water on demand 24/7 for about 50 weeks of the year (there is a 2 week maintenance period).

[theanimal]

I'm surprised this thread has received so many replies. Join the navy or move to Russia just for a shower?? Come on. This is something you just have to do. Like Bigato and I have stated, take cold and short showers.

[RealPerson]

You can install a showerhead that shuts off after a predetermined (short) time and cannot be turned on again for a set period of time. People install these to get teenage shower time under control.

[TopHatFox]

I'm surprised this thread has received so many replies. Join the navy or move to Russia just for a shower?? Come on. This is something you just have to do. Like Bigato and I have stated, take cold and short showers.

I now find that getting in a shower with a specific purpose--scrub here, scrub there, and a little bit more here--got me out in a few minutes. I even took it cold. Thankfully that wasn't an issue since my cold experiment is progressing nicely (Earth Runners in snow anyone?).

I guess it was the vagueness of 'getting clean' that kept me thinking randomly for almost an hour. I can't change the past with all the water I've wasted over the years, so awell to that.

It's not a global water conservation issue, it's more of a personal issue; I've been trying to use only what I absolutely need in every aspect of my life.

[BecaS]

I have an idea, coming from a totally different direction.

About a year and a half ago, we tore out our 50+ year old bathroom (the only bathing facility in the house; there is another half bath) to get to some leaking plumbing behind the tile wall wrap. The original tile floor was shot as well, partially due to settling. The leak had rotted a floor joist and the combination of moisture and settling crumbled the old concrete under the tile. This is the first time I've seen a tile floor reach the end of its usable life span.

So we tore it all out and rebuilt it/had it rebuilt, including a properly done joist repair and replacement of the old plumbing behind the walls and under the floor.

When we were choosing fixtures I found a shower fixture that includes a rain head shower, three body spray nozzles and a hand held shower attachment. The fixture was described on the box as a water saving/conserving device. The rain head uses more water than our previous shower head, which was extremely miserly with water usage, but not as much as it seems like it should be using, if that makes sense.

This fixture was discounted to a clearance price at Costco, so I figured, why not? It has certainly lent some low dollar/high return luxury to our otherwise small, simple bathroom.

Anyway, I've found that flipping through these different options actually shortens my shower. The rain head is great for washing and rinsing long hair. I start with the rain head, get the hair wet, washed and/or conditioned, switch to the body sprays while shaving legs, etc. I use the hand held attachment as needed/if needed. I flip back to the rain head shower to rinse the long hair and voila! Done. A complete shower routine often takes no more than five minutes but is as satisfying and complete as a much longer shower.

The different options work well in their varying capacities, and the body sprays make for a truly immersive experience. The body sprays are great for sore back and shoulder muscles.

Perhaps something like this would satisfy your desire for hot water immersion in a shorter period of time.

We opted for shower doors as a part of our renovation. The bathroom is small and the frameless glass doors help it feel a little bigger. I can vouch for the concept of enclosing the shower to keep heat in. We do run the exhaust fan to reduce overall moisture but even with the exhaust fan running, the shower enclosure stays warm.

[JohnnyH]

If I'm going out in 40 below, I cant persuade myself to cold shower... Navy showers FTW though. I probably only need water for 40-90 seconds or so.

I've used maybe 1 gallon ($30 in 2010/11) of Bronners for every other day showers in the last 3 years... If the water is running all the time it washes away the soap before I can utilize it.

[BecaS]

I am probably the outlier here, but I typically take two short showers each day.

Yes, that's two (2) short showers each day.

I don't linger in either instance; one shower is for washing/rinsing hair, shaving, etc. and the other shower is strictly for rinsing off quickly and wetting long hair in order to get a comb through it.

The two shower a day habit started with and was reinforced by a career in health care: as soon as I got home from work, shoes were left at the door, scrubs went directly into the washing machine (although the load wasn't started until it was full) and my person went into the shower.

I've found, over the years, that the briefest shot of moist, warm air morning and evening saved me more money on sinus medication (both over the counter and prescription) and more money not spent at the dr's office than I'd ever spend on that amount of water and energy to heat it.

Since I'm no longer working I don't feel that I need to shower at night for germ mitigation reasons but if I don't shower at night I know it. I wake up the next morning (or earlier, in the middle of the night) with a stuffy nose and sinus pain. I suspect that rinsing off before bed removes pollen, dust, pet dander, etc. in addition to providing the usual shot of moist warm air to the mucous membranes in my head.

In addition, and this is just a personal quirk, I really do not enjoy putting my head on the pillow with my skin and hair smelling like whatever I cooked for dinner.

Bonus round in the summertime, when I'm typically rinsing perspiration and dirt off as well.

Of all of the things we'd deny ourselves in this consumer driven culture in order to save a buck, I'm not going to skimp on this basic hygiene practice if I can help it. It provides too much benefit for such a small investment.

(Yes, I also use a Neti pot, and that also helps.)

I say find a way to shorten your showers, and to make shorter showers as satisfying as longer ones, but for goodness sake, if we can't enjoy some basic pleasures, what's the point of all the other sacrifice?