Showers vs baths

I had to laugh when my husband suggested measuring the water meter to see just how much water we saved by taking showers over baths. Have you ever done it?

Make sure all the water is off and will not be running (no watering lawns, no running dishwashers or laundry). Look at the numbers on your meter. Now take a shower. When you are done, go check the meter and look at the number. A couple of days later, when you are needing a bath, do the same thing. Make sure no water is running and check the meter before and after your bath.

I know I was shocked. I mean I knew that showers used less water than baths, but for me, I use about 3-4 times as much water in a bath as I do in a shower! I also noticed that for the kids baths (where I put in less water than I would in a bath for me), it was only about twice as much as my shower (and I take fairly quick showers).

SO the question then becomes, is it more cost effective to have the kids shower or bath? Well, according to my thinking, a bath would use less water for the kids than showers for the kids. Why? We have four kids. :) One or two, I can understand the argument for a shower over a bath. But it seems the more children you have, the more beneficial, water and cost wise, the bath is.

Why? Because they all use the same bath water. :) I use a little less for the littler ones, and then add some more hot water for the older ones once the little ones are out. This has worked VERY well for us