We know the drill. Hit the alarm, roll out of bed, turn on the hot and cold water in the shower, and stand there in a fog waiting for the perfect temperature. Or, perhaps after a few minutes its a little too hot or a little too cold, so we adjust, do the hand test, and wait a minute or two more before we step in to seize the day. This is a sort of morning ritual for hundreds of millions of people.

Among others, the problem with this ritual, especially when multiplied by everyone in your household or nearly all of us across the country, is that it becomes a very very expensive little habit. Might not seem like we are wasting so much water, or money, (or energy) each morning but maybe our family needs to wake up and think about it a little more clearly.

This 5 minutes of pre-shower while we stare into the mirror reflecting on our dreams, actually results in about 25 gallons of fresh, clean water flowing into the sewer and a few cents of our family’s hard earned money, right along with it. Add to that, the 10-20 additional gallons used when we spend a few extra minutes in there allowing the conditioner to soak into our hair (just turn off the water, when you do that!)

You wont need a calculator to figure out that for a family of 4, this few cents per person per shower really adds up. GreenMyParents provides the tools for kids to help their family estimate that the annual cost of this “economic and environmental leak” totals to about $10 per person per year… in water costs. (Energy costs are on top of that!) It wont always be this low. For now the price of tap water in much of the United States is still unsustainably cheap. When it goes up, and it will go way way up, so will our water bills! (More on that later…)

Now since we want to maximize savings, let’s factor in as many of the OTHER instances of money losing/water wasting around the household. Some examples include, running the water when we do the dishes, allowing the tap to run when we brush (or floss!) or shave, using the pre-wash cycle on the dishwasher, letting the hose run when washing the car or watering the plants, or over watering the yard, or for millions of dog lovers, the extra run off from Fido’s annual scrub down, too. Oh and by the way, people who get a dose of good exercise everyday (GMP suggests walking or biking as a family instead of riding in a car) probably take more than one shower. Yep, for most families it is a lot… and these all get added to the money wasted before we even got into the shower! What other examples can you think of?

So, even if you don’t have a yard or a dog, we can fairly say that the true cost of wasting water could be closer to $20 per person per household per year, for a total of about $80-90 per year in money down the drain for a family of four, every year. For some it could be much more, and most people don’t even keep track. GreenMyParents Champions are ready, able and willing to help!

Add up all these money leaks resulting from the 1,000,000 families we are recruiting to participate in GreenMyParents, you too will be stunned at how much we are wasting together. Billions of gallons of water wasted (while over a billion kids have not a drop to drink!) insanely huge amounts of energy to heat it before it goes down the drain, and a staggering amount of cash. Pretty crazy when we think about it… right!? Please help us teach many many kids how to help their parents, help seed the green economy, and save money today by wasting less right now!

GreenMyParents’ kids know the fun and easy strategies to help Mom and Dad wake up to the reality of the cost of wasting so much water, (energy, and more) and understand that there are simple, practical solutions to this sort of problem, and there are a lot better ways to use this money to enjoy life together and help make the world a better place.

Please help GreenMyParents Champions teach their parents to stop pouring our money down the drain!