In all honesty, my family hardly cuts back on water. The only time my parents cut back is when they realize their bill is increasing. When I'm showering, if I don't need the water and instead, I'm shampooing my hair or using soap, I usually turn off the water. My parents don't find this necessary, but I'm in the process of convincing them.

I can relate to what you are saying. Often times, my family will only cut down on our water usage if our bill is very high. I like your idea of turning off the water while shampooing and I've never thought of that idea. I always try to limit my time in the shower to under two minutes and get in right away. Usually I'll turn the water on hot right away so I can enter without wasting as much water. In this process my family also leaves a watering can or bucket out while our shower is heating up. in the end you can use this water for your plants outside without having to use extra water. Over the years my family has gotten a lot better in saving water and finding ways to reuse water anyway we can.

My family is similar, They don't realize that even one family can make a difference by cutting back on water usage. I think that more public announcements about how water can affect people personally would help, as well as overall environmental changes. I like your idea of putting the bucket in your shower to water the plants, which is so much more efficient than hoses and sprinklers.

I can relate to many of the things you have all said in regards to our families and their water use. Growing up, I never thought much about the amount of water my grandmother and I used until she let me watch the Con Edison meter reader read our meter every few months. I watched her as she calculated monthly gas and water bills. I began to understand that the more water I used. the more money we would have to pay. So, I began washing dishes in a basin of water instead of letting it run. I started taking more baths instead of showers and cutting off the water when scrubbing my face. I'm still not the best when it comes to conserving water and neither is the rest of my family but cutting back on bills is always a good thing so I am trying to convince my family to think about other ways in which we can conserve water.

I agree and relate to many of the things all of you said about our families and our water use.  I take shorter showers to cut down the water I use. When I was younger, I used to take the longest showers because I didn't care about water as much as I do now.  But now, since I am older, I understand how important water is to the planet, and that we should all save our water. My parents are really good at taking short showers, but not good at turning off the water when they wash the dishes. Whenever I see the water running in the house, I always turn it off, in hope of saving our planet a little bit more.

[Water usage](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:ZP6t:waterusage.jpg.jpg)
This picture is a table of how much energy and water is used over the course of a day, week, month, year, and five years with electrical heat. Taking a shorter shower not only saves water, but energy.This is very eye opening, I think this would help your parents realize how much of a difference a shorter shower can make.
source: http://www.paystolivegreen.com/shower-w … alculator/