Turn Your Toilet Green

Ew, right?

Actually, making your toilet "green," a.k.a. "earth-friendly" or "eco-conscious" is a cinch.

Fill an empty plastic 20-ounce or 1 liter drinking bottle with water, then tuck it inside the toilet tank, below the handle mechanism.

Trial and error: anywhere else in the tank, and the bottle gets sucked down with every flush, causing MORE water usage. Oh, and duct tape will NOT hold it in place. But maybe plumber's tape would?

This trick results in less water usage with every flush, and is much less expensive than installing a low-flow toilet if you don't already have one.

The water in my toilet tank now rises to about 1 1/2 inches less depth than before. I have not figured out the volume on that - math was never my strong suit - but it seems like it is probably a significant amount!

An option my mom suggested, which was a popular water conservation trick in days predating me, is to place a brick in the tank.

If you run a business or work at an office with multiple bathroom stalls, or have more than one toilet in your house, implementing this idea has even more of an impact!

Let me know if you can think of other ideas for conserving water in your bathroom!