How To Water Houseplants and Conserve Water At the Same Time, Sort Of
Okay, this might be the lamest, most irrelevant household tip ever, but lately I’ve been taking any partially-drunk cup of water lying around the house, and instead of pouring out any tepid remains in favor of a fresh refill from the Brita (which is what I typically do), I dump it into the nearest houseplant. If I do this a few times a day, I cycle through plants so I’m not constantly watering the same one.
Result? Totally improved, visibly healthier plants. For real! I don’t know if it’s because I’m normally a lazy waterer and only take care of business when I notice a plant is drooping/turning brown/waving a tiny white flag, or if it’s the constant small amounts of water vs. a large watering-can-full, but all of my plants are much happier these days.
Plus, there’s the whole not wasting water thing, but since I take a bath each and every night and drain away gallons of soapy water each time, I probably can’t claim much success in that arena yet.
Posted: October 8th, 2007 under House & home, How-to, Personally recommended by Linda.
Comments: 14
Comments
Comment from Corina
Time: October 8, 2007, 4:36 pm
I do this with the stale water in my tea kettle every morning (I mean I water my plants with what’s left in the kettle from the water I boiled the day before, not the left over HOT water of course) and feel the same sense of (probably unearned) virtue. Every little bit helps, right?
Comment from Josie
Time: October 8, 2007, 10:42 pm
am I evil if I pour water leftovers in the dog’s bowl? Probably.
Comment from Anonymous
Time: October 9, 2007, 8:34 am
I just started doing that recently with the water that I have left over in the morning… It had never occured to me before, and it took literally seeing the plant by my sink looking withered while I was about to dump water down the drain for the lightbulb to come on. I’ve been doing that for about a month and I can’t believe how much better my plants look. Otherwise I tend to be too lazy about it and my plants get all wilty.
Comment from Sabine
Time: October 9, 2007, 8:34 am
I just started doing that recently with the water that I have left over in the morning… It had never occured to me before, and it took literally seeing the plant by my sink looking withered while I was about to dump water down the drain for the lightbulb to come on. I’ve been doing that for about a month and I can’t believe how much better my plants look. Otherwise I tend to be too lazy about it and my plants get all wilty.
Comment from Sabine
Time: October 9, 2007, 8:35 am
Ooops, I tried to cancel my comment because I hadn’t filled out any info… sorry. 
Comment from Daisy
Time: October 9, 2007, 7:05 pm
Does it count if I do the same thing with the last few ounces of cold coffee? The plants don’t seem to mind. They’re not getting jittery, at least.
Comment from mamma knows
Time: October 9, 2007, 7:09 pm
To WEIRD, I have been doing the same thing, my kids leave half bottles of water everywhere, I BUY this stuff so, as I pick up all the bottles I dump them in the plants. It at least makes me feel like I’m not wasting it.
Comment from Anonymous
Time: October 9, 2007, 11:49 pm
Energy conservation/bath guilt reduction tip: leave your bathwater in the tub until it’s cold, it heats your house as it cools.
Comment from sooboo
Time: October 10, 2007, 10:03 am
My otherwise perfect cat has the annoying habit of drinking out of our water glasses. I usually end up dumping so much water! The plants won’t mind cat drool.
Comment from samantha Jo Campen
Time: October 10, 2007, 9:44 pm
I do the exact same thing and it makes me feel better too. And damn the plants are lookin’ gooOOOOood!
Comment from K
Time: October 11, 2007, 3:32 pm
If it makes you feel any better, I think I heard that baths use a lot less water than showers, and I take a shower morning AND night. Long ones. So I’m like 4x worse than you. (But I drink sodas instead of water, so do I get credit for saving water there? 
HAR HAR.)
Comment from superblondgirl
Time: October 16, 2007, 7:52 am
This is what they call multitasking - be proud! I need to do this, too. I waste a lot of water.
Comment from laughing mommy
Time: October 16, 2007, 9:40 am
We do this too… but with all the half used bottles of water in the car. Sometimes I find 10 half full bottles in my car (okay, so I let my car get pretty bad… sue me).
Comment from Kiwi
Time: October 28, 2007, 3:48 pm
If you feel guilty about your water waste, you can always look into setting up something to recycle greywater. Your husband does seem to like new housing work and making adjustments to the plumbing can always be fun
I like in a NYC apartment so I mostly stick to the reusing water in my plants method. But I do enjoy the occasional hour-long shower and am trying to figure out better ways to reuse the water…
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