Showering and bathing represents a lot of our water use. But nobody wants to be unwashed. The solution, of course, is to shower for less time.
If you're taking a 20-minute shower, you're probably taking too long. But this much is obvious.
There's one more step you can take -- perhaps in moderation -- if you want to shine up your green credentials a bit: the Navy Shower.
I was introduced to this as the "submarine shower" when I was staying at a place up in Idaho that didn't have any hot water. There, it wasn't a water-saving technique so much as it was self-defense against the snowmelt running through the house's pipes. Here's how Planet Green defines it:
A Navy shower is "the term used for a water-saving technique that was started in the Navy to help save precious freshwater aboard ships. The basic idea is to hop in the shower, get wet all over, turn off the water while soaping up, and then rinse clean. The small change in routine makes a huge difference: a regular shower can use as much as 60 gallons of water, while a Navy shower can check in at about 3 gallons."
This one is not for the faint of heart, but I'll say this: If you're looking to cut down on water use and coffee consumption, you're in business. You'll be plenty alert after one of these.