While we are all spending more time at home these days, now might be a good time to take your mind off the world and focus on making some easy changes to the way you use water.

Shower, Bathing, or Brushing Teeth

1. Wash your body less.

• You aren't going anywhere, so there is no one to impress

• A shower that lasts 4 minutes uses between 75–150 litres of water

2. If you feel like zoning out, consider having a bath instead of a shower.

3. Turn off the shower while you are shampooing or soaping yourself.

4. Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth.

Washing your Clothes

5. Wear your clothes more than once between washes.

• It doesn't matter if your outfits are a little wrinkled or don't smell fresh

• Only wash laundry when you have a full load, which helps extend the days between loads

• Every load of laundry uses 50–150 litres of water per wash, depending on the efficiency of the machine

• Every time we wash our clothes, microfibres rub off our synthetic fabrics, which can end up polluting our lakes and rivers

Watering your Plants

6. Capture some of the water from your tap while you're waiting for it to heat up. One option is putting a cup under the faucet. Use this to water your plants.

7. Safely grab a handful of snow from outside and melt it inside in a cup on your counter. Tomorrow you'll have room temperature water for your plants to drink.

8. If you accidentally drop an ice cube on the floor while pouring yourself a drink, put it in one of your plant pots instead of tossing it in the sink to melt.

Choosing your Beverages

9. To relieve some stress, consider drinking tea over coffee.

• Tea typically has less caffeine and has other calming properties

• One cup of tea takes 35 litres of water to produce, while a cup of coffee takes 140 litres

10. If you choose to drink alcohol consider choosing beer over wine.

• It takes 75 litres of water to make a glass of beer and 120 litres to make a glass of wine

• Also, consider drinking moderately

In all seriousness, we are all facing tough times throughout this year. Don't feel pressured to take on any of these changes if that feels too much right now.

If you want to do more, learn how you can act now to make a difference while at home.