1. Turn down your thermostat
We starting doing this in February. We turned our thermostat down just two notches over the past two months, from 68 down to 66. We also turn it off at night.
2. Take less showers
We found that it is really not necessary to take a shower every day like we were previously. Over this past month, we started limiting our showers to the mornings when we did our exercise routines, and desperately needed them. 
We now take showers around three times a week. Maybe our natural deodorant recipe is keeping us smelling fresh longer!
We are finding that frequent showers are not necessarily good for you anyway.
According to Jordin Rubin, author of The Maker’s Diet, “excessive showering -even in the purest water – can actually rob your hair and body of the natural oils. It can also alter your body’s pH. Then you have the added problem of heavily chlorinated public water supplies.”
Chlorine in water can be very harmful for your health…more on this later.
Our Savings
Our electrical bill went down $22 over the last two months! We went from an average of $65 per month, to our bill this month was $45 (although April does tend to be a cheaper month).
Comparing our figures to last April, I realized that the savings wasn’t so significant, as our bill was $52 last April and $45 this April. It is definitely helpful to compare last year’s use! Since we live in a condo association the water bill is paid by the association (a flat rate for us, that doesn’t change no matter how much we use), so if you pay your water separately this would provide more of a savings. I do think the health benefits of decreasing showers are worthy to consider though.
I just wanted to share some of the tips I use to save and conserve…I use a shower head that had the adjustment on it so once I am in and wet I turn it off until I am ready to rinse either body or hair and this saves A LOT of water as my bill still stays pretty low I only do laundry once a week and only run the dishwasher when it is really full. Also I unplug EVERYTHING…it really amazed me how much difference this made on my electric bill the first time I did it so from then on I was hooked. I saw a $75 savings on my electric bill the first month I started doing the unplugging and or turning off the power strips. Hope this helps others too! Blessings….Roxi
I wanted to ask you about the whole not showering thing. What do you do on the inbetween days? Do you still wash up at the sink with soap and a washrag for your face and underarms? And what about during ‘that time of the month’ and even that area during the rest of the month? And what about shaving? Do you just not shave your legs and underarms in between? And what about bedhead? My hair is soooo wacky when I wake up in the morning. And I don’t want to live in a ponytail. I hear a lot about not showering so much, but I don’t get how it practically applies. Can you help?
My oh my…I would not have thought that less frequent showering would turn so many people off.
I personally have always taken a shower every other day (Aaron has been the every day shower guy), except of course during that time of the month. Growing up in a large family, we had to have a schedule of showering days, otherwise we would use up all the hot water.
Aaron’s family stuck to a strick 5-min shower if they were showering every day (he grew up with 6 brothers!). I never felt a need to take them more frequently. In the summer, I do find it necessary to shave every day, but I just do that sitting in the tub, without taking a shower.
You’re hair does ready does not need to be washed every day. I style mine with some gel, due to it’s curly nature, and just touch it up with water on the in between days.
Taking frequent showers drys out my skin anyway, and I don’t like that at all. I wash my face every evening, and put new deodorant on each day. Works for me.
Hope that gives you some help!
Just give it a try…you would be amazed that stepping outside the box is possible!
Another option…cut down on your time in the shower, if you are to take one every day. Like my husband’s family did. They timed each other – once 5 minutes hit – knock knock and you’re out! This would probably provide similar savings!
We workout every day so we shower every day. I need my showers to feel ready for the day!
Great Tips! We’ve been doing a lot to save energy, so it was quite disheartening when our heater/AC totally broke. I wasn’t using any heat, but the heater was “draining” electricity unbeknownst to us, and to a tune of ~$500! (Long story!) But God taught us a lot about trusting Him and realizing He is in control!
Along the lines of showers, I’m not to the point of not taking one every day yet, but I’ve stopped washing my hair as much.
On a missions trip to Madagascar, I once went 7 days without bathing or even being able to wash my face. I think that was about as long as I can go.
Wow I can’t imagine not showering everyday. Even my children get a shower at least once a day. I’m a clean freak lol. I don’t feel clean if I don’t shower. How do you get past that feeling? I feel just feel down right icky. (for a lack of a better word lol)
growing up my dad was big on saving money. Even though he was making a great deal of money, (owned 2 businesses, worked HARD) he was tight w/his money.
One that was done (that you haven’t mentioned, he already had the thermostat lower at night), was to run the dishwasher only after 8 pm. That worked well because our family was only a family of 5.
Back then he had us only make long distance calls at night (after 5) and on the weekends when the rates were lower. my how times have changed. All of us went off to college, and then moved into our own places. All 3 of us live a good 2 hrs to my brother who lives over 20 hrs away. But they have good phone plans out there now.
I’m so glad we’re not the only ones!! LOL This is a great tip! I have started washing my hair every other day and using baby powder or a spray (powder) shampoo to knock out the oil if necessary. This has conserved water (since I’m not in there as long on those days), time and shampoo!
Unless they are really dirty, my kids only get a bath about 3 or 4 times a week. In between, we use wipes for the parts that easily get dirty, if you know what I mean.
Unfortunatelty my husband has a really dirty job so he HAS to shower every work day.
I enjoyed stopping by!
Hey Lindsay,
I was just wondering if you are comparing your bills to this same time last year or if you are comparing them only to the previous months. This may not be an issue where you live, but I know here Febrary is usually the most expensive month for energy bills and April and May are the cheapest. Like I said, this may not be an issue where you live, but it may show more or less savings than you expected.
That is a good point, Laura, so I was double checking our numbers. It appears we used 530 KWH this April compared to 620 last April, which means we used about 3 KWH per day less than last year…so last April was $52, this year $45. I will make the change on my figures.
Hey that’s still really good. Yay for savings!
I’m a tad bit jealous! We hope to move to a new apartment soon– hopefully one that is better insulated! I’m afraid that if we turned down our heat our baby would freeze! (Then again, considering it doesn’t feel like any heat goes into the room….) Thanks for the tips, I’m going to keep those in mind.
All of our children in the winter sleep in blanket sleepers. We turn our heat off at nite as well. Unless of course it gets SUPER cold. (usually we’ll leave it on if it’s below 32, even in being frugal we shouldn’t let our pipes freeze!) Even then it’ll be only 65.
We have a feather bed, down comforter blanket (we had a down comforter, but it got TOO hot)
I just wanted to say that I agree with April. I’ve cancelled a few subscriptions for natural living magazines for this reason. I just didn’t want to have that stuff in the house.
How awesome it would be to have even a $70 utility bill ours seems to continue to rise despite our efforts. Oh well I guess we just need to keep on trying!
Keep in mind that we have a small condo and our family size is 3.
But I do think the same principles apply. I will admit some things we have tried and haven’t experienced much success, as with hanging our laundry to dry…didn’t really change a thing, but with little steps, trying anything once is worth it. Keep on trying!
Lindsay, I have a big question for you. I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog over the last few months and seeing your dedication to both biblical and natural living. Do you ever have a hard time reconciling the two? I had a subscription for about a year to Natural Health magazine, and while there were some wonderful resources there, I found it hard to look past a lot of the new age messages it contained. I also have had a serious health condition that I do not wish to treat with drugs if I don’t have to, so I went to see a holistic practitioner in my area the other day. She was a wonderful doctor, but again, the new age philosophy tends to pervade so much of the natural living movement. (There was even a poem in her office about “imagining the divine in our own likeness and image”–talk about blasphemy!). So I guess my question is twofold: One, have you encountered that sort of philosophy on your own journey toward living more naturally, and two, what does your family do for healthcare? Sorry for the long comment–hope to hear from you!
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April, good question. You will definitely experience a more worldly/new age philosophy in pursing natural living, but I think the key is that you remember the purpose for which you are doing it. We are pursuing natural living so that we can be have increased energy and physical strength to serve the Lord, and to give generously to others as we live simply and frugally. Keep your purpose biblical and remind yourself often.
I would like to address this more fully in a upcoming post.
I think too that in addition to what Lindsay said about being good stewards of our bodies and health, that God CREATED food in it’s whole forms for us to eat. God put the healing properties in the herbs and the vitamins and minerals in each kind of food for us to eat. It is the scientists who are often trying to play God and tell us what of God’s natural foods are “good” or “bad.” So much of what is labled “food” now is really full of ingredients that are not natural and created in a science lab. Even vegetables are sprayed with poison and meats and dairy are full of harmful additives because the animals were given food that they weren’t meant to eat. We have to go back to the food that God gave us in the form that He gave it to us!
Yes, I find it really frustrating that so much of whole living is wrapped up in anti-God perspectives. But surely the people who see how food in its purest form is best for you have to see that there is a “plan” and that these things did not spring up from accident. Even looking at “evolution” and surmising that humans chose to eat foods that helped them thrive, does not explain the presence of the food in the first place (surely the best self-preservation methods would cause all plants to be poisonous!)
I don’t know if all of that made sense, but I hope you get my intent!