Due to the many number of people in my family, My family footprint is larger than the normal family. we usually don't mean to leave the water when taking a shower or washing our hand or etc but this is done at different times of the day therefore it seems as if we consume a lot more.  The lights at home are almost always on because for example at the times I am sleeping,my sisters may be up.

It's really interesting that halfway around the world, teenagers have the same carbon footprint challenges that I do! I also have a large family, with 2 sisters, a brother, 2 dogs, my mom, and myself living in our home. I also found that the areas which you specified in-water and electricity usage-were things that my family used a lot of, which contributed to my carbon footprint and made it slightly larger than the average American. Though, what I have a problem with is the fact that my family is not the same size as the average American one.
   I can't really help it if my family is larger than average. I really have no control over it. But because my family is the size that it is, we have a bigger responsibility than most people, because as a cohesive unit, we have to work together to reduce our carbon footprint. So, say you noticed your sister took an extra long shower after practice. Maybe you should take a bit of a shorter shower to balance out her water usage for the day. Imagine you notice that your brother is studying in his room with his light on while you are d oing homework in your dining room with those lights on. Maybe you could invite your brother to study with you to conserve the energy from the lights in his room.
   It's little things like this that we as people belonging to larger families need to consider when we are trying to keep our and the earth's best interests at heart. The things that average sized families do to conserve water and energy we have to do ten times over in order to reduce our carbon footprints. It sure may sound like a lot of work, but truly, these little tricks that we can use to conserve our natural resources will benefit us and our Earth in the end. I can't imagine that in a different country your home life and habits are exactly the same as mine, but together with your family, as I'm trying to do with mine, we can reduce our carbon footprints and help do our part to preserve our home planet.

Hello Tiffany, I like that you are aware of what is making your footprint so large and that is the first step to reducing it. I did the same thing with my carbon footprint, because mine as well was above the average for my region so I am now very conscious of what kind of decisions I make and how they will impact my carbon footprint and I like how you are also trying to make a difference in reducing your carbon footprint!

Its cool to see how people living in apartments can even use carbon

I too have a pretty large family, Tiffany. I've always been a night owl though and so I always try to remember to turn the lights off before I go to bed. Unfortunately my family isn't as green as we might be so our footprint seems to consume a lot too. You're not alone on that one!

Hello Tiffany, I can relate to how you have trouble conserving at home. I enjoy taking long showers at home. However my parents don't! At my house we are not allowed to take showers longer then ten minutes. Maybe have some one knock on the door once ten minutes is up. Just something little to try and conserve.

I love how you notice what the problem is that your family is doing. However, I don't think I could relate to this because I have such a small family so we use less carbon than your family does. But no family is better than the other. We all have many ways to start preserving our energy in this world.

For such a large family of yours, the best way to not consume so much carbon in your home is to keep lights off when you really don't need them and don't have the water running while washing dishes. Fill the sink with soapy, hot water and use that to wash the dishes.

Since you have such a large family like yours you when you leave the house you can turn off all the lights to save energy. If you are not in the room also turn off the lights. When you leave you can also turn the thermostat up in the summer and down in the winter so that when you all leave it is not running the entire time.

I don't have a very big family, but we share the same problem that yours does. We occasionally leave lights and faucets on when they should've been turned off

I have a big family. In my house,  live permanently 8 people, but almost every day, come to my house my boyfriend and my brother's girlfriend. We use a lot of energy. You should turn off the light when you leave the house. It may be helpful.

Are your families helping each other reduce your individual carbon footprints? What kind of light bulbs are you using for example? You could share the Carbon Footprint Calculator with each of them. Often just being aware of the impact of your decisions will help you make changes that will make the difference.