Well, in my own defense, I drive a near zero-emission compressed natural gas car, have no landscaping, and am seeking advice as to how to change my habit of laundering my towels after each use! Please don’t yell at me; I’m doing my best to conserve!
Are you still allowed to fill the swimming pool?
.not where i live----and no new pools will be permitted or new construction with pools for the duration.
Post #40, sorry I didn’t mean you. Just general rant from the green hypocrisy thread.
Naive question: is the issue around pools that water evaporates and, therefore needs to be replaced, thus the waste of water? We have a hot tub (already filled) and I wasn’t thinking of it as a waste.
Our backyard is brown and our front is browning.
I wash towels once a week and do only full loads of laundry in a water efficient washing machine.
All the toilets are low flow.
I can’t think of anything else to do.
^Exactly how I feel. I don’t live in CA but I was thinking what I could do if I lived in CA. I don’t water the lawn. I run only full loads in DW or the laundry. I collect the water from dehumodifier/ac to water new plants. I don’t collect rainwater. There’d be too much rainwater if collected.
I have 6inch mulch in my backyard. I googled and one guy in Washington state has more than 12inch with wood chips and he has never water his orchard, same with vegetable, and they are growing nicely. The wood chips seem to act as a water container. My husband wouldn’t let me put wood chips so I have mulch from walkable tan bark.Wood chips are free.
Down here, only very thin towels seem to dry between uses and even then seem to get musty smelling too often. Dh and I have hard wired towel warmers in our closets, and I put some plug-in standing ones in the guest rooms. They’re nice for helping delicates and swimwear dry quickly, too. In winter I feel very pampered having warm pajamas and socks waiting for me. If I spread a towel out it will dry pretty quickly, then I can fold it to free up space for drying or warming smaller items.
I do use fabric softener and it doesn’t seem to cause any issues.
My towels are always dry by the next day.
@collage1 Pools loose a lot less water if they are covered, and the type of cover makes a difference. We have a pool with an above ground motorized cover. We pretty much never have to add water. During the winter, I pump water from the top of the cover into the pool when it rains until the pool is as full as it can be. Then, we don’t have to add water to it until probably once in the late summer. We keep the pool covered all the time except when we are using it, because there are a couple trees overhanging it that drop leaves year-round.
Filling a new pool however, that’s a lot of water.
There was an article several months ago, perhaps in the LA Times, that cited a study that said existing covered pools use the same amount of water per square foot as drought-tolerant plants.
The local high schools have reduced their water use measurably by covering their pools when they are not in use. However, they get used a lot and the covers are more the big bubble wrap type that doesn’t seal at the edges, so their pools still require topping off regularly.
Your hot tub probably doesn’t require more water that often if you keep it covered when not in use, which is probably the case because the cover also insulates.
How much did your pool cover cost? There’s talk here about requiring them. I really don’t want to be forced to spend a lot of money on a pool cover.
Pools always cost money, sigh. I just got new “grids” whatever those are put in the DE filter and the pool guy says the motor that turns the valve to switch from regular to solar is broken. It’s always something. I threaten to fill the pool with dirt, but that much dirt would be a pain and there would still be all that cement.
Our pool cover costs about $300 each year for servicing and about $2000 every 5-7 years for new fabric which get damaged over time by UV and other misc parts. We have replaced the whole system once since we got the house for about $6000.
Bubble wrap would be much cheaper.
We also don’t have a child-secure fence around the pool, so when the kids were younger, it was a safety feature. I suppose our golden retriever would go swimming without permission if we didn’t have a cover, also.
We don’t wash our sheets every week. There, I said it! And we only wash our towels about 1x a week. And we don’t water our zero-scaped (not zerascaped) yard. Maybe that’s why every month by utility bill says, “You are using 3678 gallons less water per month than the average house.” We average 2300 a month.
I use the same towel to wipe down the shower. I use a squeegee, too, but there are always spots that don't get dry. And the faucet handles and safety bars. We have hard water and glass doors and it's important to wipe them down after every shower or the hard water builds up. I don't like using my towel after that, and it rarely is dry enough the next day anyway because the shower makes it pretty wet.
Kind of what I was talking about on the Green Hypocricsy thread. So you think someone couldn’t go to your home and find something you’re not doing to the maximum for conservation? 
I’m sure we all have ways we can conserve, but to expect everyone to do everything possible and live like monks is unrealistic, and not even necessary. There’s nothing wrong with trying to do what you can, and encouraging others to try as well (which doesn’t mean doing exactly what I’m doing). I don’t think that is “interesting” or hypocritical. I think it’s trying to be aware, making changes, and encouraging others to do what they can do, too. I’m trying to cut my water use by 30%, which is more than is recommended for my area. I don’t think I’ll need to reuse my damp bath towels in order to meet that goal.
Easier for me to just take shorter showers. Down to 3 minutes, now. I even skip a day, now and then.
Down to 3 minutes. That’s impressive. I was patting my back for keeping it to 10 minutes.
One thing I don’t do;I don’t recycle the cardboard from the toilet paper. My recycling bin is downstairs in the kitchen. I tried but for some reason it’s hard for me to do.
^^^ Edit:That’s 3 minutes if I don’t wash my hair, which I do every 4th day. (One advantage of being older. I could never have gotten away with that as a younger woman.)
My dog loves to steal the toilet paper rolls and eat them, empty or full, so I make sure mine make it to the recycle bin. But that’s a pretty small thing. If that’s your worst “sin”, I congratulate you.
Hey, I have an idea. I won’t criticize people who need to wash their hair every day if you don’t criticize my towel use. 
It seems like the issue this year isn’t conserving, it’s how do you conserve on top of what you have already done? My area is on 36% decrease this year, the highest in our county for some reason. Last year it was 20%. I turned off half my drip line a couple of months ago and it must have had a big leak because my water bill went down $20 a month. But now that is off, I already have drought tolerant plants, I got rid of my kids, I don’t do laundry every week, probably once a month (no not the same towels for an entire month). Turn off the water when brushing my teeth, soaping up my hands etc. Only run the dishwasher when it’s full. There’s nothing left to cut back.
You got rid of your kids!
Seriously, I was thinking today since someone brought me something frozen and it was packed in ice - reuse that water when it melts! It seems a bit desperate but that’s the times we are in.
Potted plants love ice! My spare ice usually goes in my dog’s bowl. But yeah, it’s hard for those who have been doing a lot all along. I think in LA there is some consideration for those areas that have been “good” for a few years.
I’m not sure how all of this is going to be monitored, or exactly how they will enforce it. Should be interesting. If it’s really difficult, some people will do things that are not actually “greener” and definitely more expensive, in order to stay in compliance. Take their clothes to a laundry, wash their car at a car wash, buy bottled water, etc. Bottled water is really not good for the environment, but if it save a few gallons a week…