How to Take a Three Minute Shower, Part 2

Yesterday I claimed victory for my three minute and twenty second shower because even though I was 20 seconds beyond my goal, I was still about two minutes shorter than my five minute average. However, today I was determined to get under three minutes, or a count of 180.

I did a little pre-shower exercise -- some situps and pushups -- to get my blood going so that i didn't have to worry about trying to wake up in the shower. Then I turned the water on and got in while I had barely counted to 30. My bathroom was a little chilly and the water hadn't fully warmed yet, so I was jumping around a bit to get wet. I was also in fast motion to get my body wet as quickly as possible and by 54, 55, 56 I had finished soaking my hair and realized that by 59, 60 I was completely wet.

I turned the water off.

Yes, the so-called boat or navy shower. I was still in counting mode so it took me a few seconds to realize that I had actually turned the water off and could stop counting. Reset to 60. Take my time soaping up. Leisurely soap one arm then the other. Think about the world's problems. Leisurely soap my chest, my legs. Solve one or two of the world's problems. Soap the bottom of my feet, behind my ears. Shampoo. Leisurely scrub. Think of new problems to solve.

Okay, all soaped up -- water back on! 61, 62, 63. Back into fast shower mode. Rinse hair (75, 76...), rinse feet (87, 88...). This is easy -- I should be able to finish by 100 and cut yesterday's time in half. Rinse all places in between (101, 102...). Where did those last ten seconds go? 112, 112... Move, move. Rinse behind my ears. Is that it? 118, 119... Yes! Water off!

120. Not bad!

I notice that I count quicker when I start and slower as I'm finishing but I don't think it's so bad that I need to go out and buy a timer. The point is that if you put your mind to it, a short shower is possible. And you get on with your day quicker. If you need some extra inspiration, there's always Doing the Green Thing.

However, when I came out of the bathroom I noticed that I'd left my radio on. D'oh! Lose points for that!

The Ecolympics are starting today. I will blog about my other events once I decide which challenges I'm ready to accept. What about you? Are you ready? Sign up and let's do it!

How to Take a Three Minute Shower

Thanks to last year's Ecolympics, I cut my shower time down by about half, from somewhere in the ten-minute region to somewhere around the five minute region. According to our event page for Power Shower, every minute we cut in our shower time, saves about five gallons of water. So, given those numbers, over a year I saved about 1800 gallons of water.

However, recently my shower time has been floating upwards again.

So, today, on the eve of our 2nd annual Ecolympics (yes, you can still sign up), I'm here to tell you how to have a three minute shower.

Really, all you have to do is turn on the water, start counting to 180, jump in and do your stuff, and turn off the water while you're counting is just ticking from 179 to 180. It can be done!

This morning, it took my shower 40 seconds to warm up (d'oh, waste of 3.33 gallons!) but by the 120 count I was done soaping and washing. That left an ample count of 60 to wash my hair. The shampoo came out quickly (5 seconds), I got a good lather going (10 seconds), good scrubbing action (15 seconds), behind my ears (5 seconds), ouch, stay clear of the eyes (5 seconds)... hey, look at that, 20 seconds left over for rinsing... this is easy... At 160 the suds are dropping all around my feet. At 170, I'm massaging my scalp to get all the shampoo out. I'm going to easily have five seconds left over for that lovely zen shower feeling... 177, 178, 179...

Darn, there's a soap film on my legs that I didn't rinse properly. I'm overtime! 185, 186... And did I do the bottom of my feet? I'm sure I did but... 191, 192... That's gotta be it. Okay, all done.
Three seconds of standing there doing nothing... 198, 199, 200.

Water off!

Twenty seconds over! Hardly an Ecolympics record, but better than my shower times all week.
I'm claiming victory.

You can too. Be a part of our efforts to get individual actions to change the world. Sign up for the Ecolympics today. Challenge yourself to take a shorter shower. You know you want to.