I simply use a separate towel for the face. 
My butt is as squeaky clean as the other body parts coming out of the shower. Actually, the nose is the dirtiest part of the body - that’s where staph and MRSA are harbored if the person is a carrier (20% and 5% of the population, respectively). So it makes sense to keep facial towels away from the butt 
Don’t you use a face towel?
My H takes a shower every day and he uses the same towel about 3/4 days.
It is drying off clean water, it isn’t dirty.
We have rain barrels but it has been very, very dry, so I still need to water. But just targeted plants, not grass.
It’s been the warmest 15 months on record with no indication of ending soon.
We are headed toward eastern wa tomorrow & Im hoping I don’t get heat exhaustion like last summer.
Maybe I’ll just sit in the river with the dog.
I took out all our grass about 10 yrs ago myself with hand tools, replaced it with mostly native plants grown from seed and 4" pots, & cuttings, so while the cost has added up, it was manageable.
The most expensive piece is when I bought trellises or arbors. Even the cement statuary, I bought from the seconds yard down the street. But the seconds look better than if they were brand new, because they aren’t perfect, they look like they’ve been there a long time.
Taking out my grass was one of the best decisions I’ve had. The yard is in rooms now, and we get a lot more use out of the front yard and the planting strip.
I think they have incentives now if you put in a rain garden, but I put mine in before it was much of a thing.
However, it is very cool to see others in the neighborhood following suit. Makes walks in the neighborhood more interesting, & the bees love it.
I’m chipping in to do my part by drinking wine instead of water.
My biggest way to save water at my home was sending first D off to college
But water is needed to grow the grapes. 
California almond growers, perhaps should consider another crop/moving.But at least they won’t rot if they don’t get shipped like the almost 1billion dollars worth of Washington apples lying in the fields.
I have been waiting for my landscape designer to arrive and begin the process of our 5 lawn removal and redesign since this thread was first created. She is obviously inundated. Last year during this 2-month water billing cycle our water bill was $487.00. The following billing cycle was almost exactly the same. Our landscaping was less than a year old at the time. Making matters worse, our son just graduated and moved home for the summer. He doesn’t take showers. It would be more accurate to refer to them as “water therapy sessions”…
We are cutting back on shower length, turning off the water while soaping, etc. But these are drops in the bucket, so to speak, because in a single family home, the lion’s share of the water goes for irrigation. So we are planning to take out our front yard sod and put in drought-tolerant landscaping. Many of the water districts are doing cash-for-grass, which will help to defray the cost somewhat. This year we’ll probably just let the back yard grass die, which hurts because one of the reasons we bought the house was because of the many views to the beautiful back yard. But we can’t afford to do both front and back this year so it’ll have to be brown and ugly for a while.
My water bill went down last month thanks to the rain but it’s still higher than the winter month which is $30, now it’s $48. I’m glad kid #2 has an internship and not living at home in the summer, my husband and I were waiting for her to go out to eat but we got anxious because she took a long time. Maybe for this kid, bathtub is better.
Our water rates are going up again. We have over 2 acres with the majority of it not landscaped. We had already stopped watering some of the grass. We will now stop watering all the grass but for a small part near our front door. Even that we aren’t watering it much. I skipped the vegetable garden this year opting for just herbs in pots and a couple of chili pepper plants. My planters near the house are looking bare. It doesn’t look great but that is okay. I have some established plants that we are watering minimum to keep them alive.
Laundry- I am more aware of my load size. Adjusting the water level with more care.
My guilty pleasure is my nightly bath. I’ve reduced the level but I know that is an area I could do better.
- It would be more accurate to refer to them as “water therapy sessions”…*
I believe my husband has yoga classes in the shower.
That’s very cool. You are ahead of the curve! I’m not able to do the work myself, and it’s the labor that is expensive. The plants aren’t cheap either, and even the cost of bark blows me away. Our front yard will look better, I think, even if the grass could stay green. It hasn’t been updated in 20 years except for painting, so it’s time.
Wow, jshain. Nearly $500 a month. That has to be your lovely lawns. I’ll bet you notice a huge drop when you re-landscape. Providing your son gets his own place. ; - )
I nearly passed out when our maintenance guy told me bark or mulch runs $100.00 per yard installed and that 20 yards would be needed for 2" depth in the areas that are currently lawns.
You can free mulch, it’s good for the plants but the problem is when you call them, they dump the whole thing in your your front yard. My yard is too small for that.
Check out this Back to Eden garden video.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uM_gtZb8qyk
You will need more than 2" of mulch if you aren’t going to tear out the grass. I would put cardboard down then mulch, just to make sure, and plant right through the mulch with your bedding plants.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/sheet-mulching-rid-grass-41345.html
I try to have 3-4 inch mulch.
We are tearing out the grass but will probably bite the bullet and put down 3", depending on what type of mulch we use.
If your grass has already been taken out, newspaper would also be good to keep the weed from coming up and then a 2 inch layer would be sufficient. I see no weed in the section that I have mulch.
I have a feeling jshain’s lawn area is a little too big to be fussing with newspapers, cardboard, etc.
A truckload of mulch, yes, I imagine it will take at least one.
You are being ripped off. That much mulch delivered (20+ yards) here in my neck of the woods would be about $25-30/yard plus tax and enviro fees:
http://pacifictopsoils.com/Pricing/RetailPriceList.pdf
I would tell your gardener to go seek alternative employment, order a truck full of mulch, and hire a HS or a college kid at $15-25/yard spread (I’m being very generous here!). It is not rocket science… A kid can do it.