In general, I was pleased when I learned my family uses approximately 225 gallons of water. I live in a family of five and we make a conscience effort to conserve water anyway we can. One noticeable effort we make is to have brief showers and reuse water from our home to water our garden. Each member of the family keeps their showers under 6 minutes while the boys manage to take showers in under 3 minutes. This efficient lifestyle was actually brought on when my parents read an article on the care2 website. They published an article titled "8 Ways to Recycle Water Around Your House" that spoke about effective ways to reduce water consumption. One particular suggestion that my family has committed ourselves to is to reuse the water from the kitchen. Whether that be the water needed for a bowl of pasta or the water necessary to clean lettuce for a salad, that water is always added to the garden as an easy way to reduce our water needs. In the future, my family intends to implement another suggestion from that article and install a shower bucket. This would require discipli ne and commitment; however, the positive benefits of reusing the water from the shower could possibly eliminate the extra water that goes to our garden altogether. These are two ways that my family and I are trying to address the drought in California and minimize our water consumption. It's the time for action and if everyone could commit themselves to a water conservation strategy in their home we could take a large step toward sustainability.