Saving water, saving our skin...

I have finally found a way to save more water AND make Miss 12 take a shorter shower!  We already save our washing machine grey water to use on the garden, but now that our government has cut us down to one watering day a week, it wasn't quite enough.

So in to our shower came one 50 litre bin, and one 50 litre tub big enough to stand comfortably in.  We have two shower heads, so the 50 litre bin goes under the one not in use and catches the drips (it's turned off but still drips).  The person showering stands in the other tub and tries to finish their shower before it overflows.  This was Miss 12's shower water this morning...

Four minute showers are gone - now we have four bucket showers instead!  Now to the saving our skin bit.  You already know that I make all our soap.  The incidence of eczema and dermatitis has dropped dramatically because of this over the last year.  So to take it one step further, this is now my shampoo...

I was sceptical, I did the research, and I'm now on day four and loving it.  I wash the hair with 2 tbsp baking soda mixed with 2 cups warm water.  Then I rinse it, then rinse it again with 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar mixed with 2 cups warm water.  You don't have to rinse again, but I do - then I condition just the ends of my hair.

My scalp no longer comes out of the shower bright red, my hair still feels clean and healthy, and the itchiness is decreasing.  I've promised myself a two week trial so I'll let you know how it goes.

And now I'm making our laundry powder as well...

2 parts Lux Flakes (or grated laundry soap) : 1 part oxybleach (or borax) : 1 part washing soda.  I use the oxybleach (Napisan or similar) instead of the borax because borax is not recommended for greywater recycling - builds up the boron content of the soil, bad for the plants.  This batch was 16 cups worth - which used most of a box of Lux Flakes, half a 2kg container of a generic brand of oxybleach, and most of a 1kg bag of washing soda.  I'll let you know how long it lasts.

PS My regular laundry powder is great for gardens and skin anyway - I'm trying this as a cost exercise.