When it's yellow let it mellow, when it's brown flush it down, unless you are a guest?

Water conservation is something that has been on my mind since I was 13 years old.   We had taken a family trip, you know one of those trips where dad has to work some of the days but the rest of the family is on vacation.  So, long story short, we went to Arizona and I remember being so fascinated with the cacti as we drove to our hotel, we were definitely not in Northwest Ohio anymore.  We had arrived late at night and I was surprised the next morning when I looked out our hotel room and there was no desert.  In fact it was rather green, I was disappointed.  We had to get in our rental car and drive to the desert.  It was at that moment the questions started rolling off my tongue.  I remember asking my father why the grass in the desert is greener than the grass at home? Where does the water come from since it is supposed to be a desert? How does it get to the desert? Doesn't it evaporate really fast?  Does that cost a lot of money? .  After my many questions my father let out a slight chuckle and then he explained the entire irrigation process to me.  I thought is so silly to waste water on the desert and waste so much money trying to make plants and grass grow where they should not (and the indigenous landscape is so beautiful). It was at that moment that I knew water conservation was something I was going to practice and share.

Props to the family for such a clean toilet. Four people use
this toilet and
two of them are boys (way to aim boys!)

Dirty Anti-Green Machine
(but it is officially ours- no more payments!)

So, here I am almost twenty years later.  I am now married with three kiddos, a cat, dog, home, and lawn of my own that is only irrigated when Mother Nature sees fit.  I continue my water conservation quest by teaching my family how to only utilize the water that is necessary. In order to facilitate this lifestyle we have adopted certain routines. 

We turn off the faucet while we brush our teeth.  We rinse our dishes as soon as we are finished eating so that a substantial amount of water isn’t required to clean them later when hard substance has formed (Instead of water 2 tablespoons of vinegar helps with the really tough jobs). We load our dishwasher to capacity and run it as opposed to hand cleaning the dishes which does surprisingly save water in the end.  I also try my best to make sure I am on top of the laundry and remove clothes from the washer the same day I place them in the washer, so that they do not have to be washed again. I wash a substantial amount of clothing at once.  I do not wash my car, which is bad for the car, good for conserving water.  When bathing the kiddos I try my best to have one start off with a shower and let the tub fill while they shower.  The next two children can then take a bath in the water that filled (unless it was a rather dirty day, then a refill might be necessary). We have also adopted the technique of when it is yellow, let it mellow and when it is brown, flush it down (my son has also added a new slogan, if you go three it has to flee.  Going # 3 is of course when you go both #1 and #2).  We have an older toilet that has 3.5 gallons per flush (gpf) not the newer 1.5 or 1.6 gpf, so we really have incentive to conserve.  This of course is a hit, or miss, when it comes to 4 and 5 year olds.  My husband has grown a little perturbed at the fact that when it is his turn to use the facilities sometimes the previous user did not flush the brown down.  It’s a learning process; we will get there one day!

I am proud of my kiddos, they are learning a valuable lesson about abundance and how their actions affect others and the environment.  However, I was caught off guard the other day when my son asked why we do not flush at home when it is yellow (or #1) but we do at other people’s houses.  Well, I exclaimed slowly, stalling in hopes of trying to determine the best way to respond to his little inquisitive mind. I was at a loss.  I simply replied that is rude not to flush the toilet at other people’s homes, you need to follow their rules.  Thankfully he did not have a followup question but his question has had me pondering, what if we did follow the same rule at a friends house? Would our friends think less of us?

So what would you do? Would you think less of someone if they did not flush the toilet at your house? Would it matter more if it was #1 or #2?

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