Sustainability with this hot weather!

Last week, the temperature extremely increased. Because of this, every time I got back home from work, class, or even out for lunch, I had the need to shower to refresh myself. It also made it worse that the heaters were still on in my apartment since no one expected to be so hot so soon. At first I must admit I began showering twice a day without concern but soon after I started realizing the great amount of water I was wasting. I decided to conserve water as my next step towards sustainability. First I had to reduce the times I showered per day. This was not an easy task because I very much dislike feeling hot or sweaty. So I decided that every time I felt the need to shower during the day I placed a wet towel on my forehead to cool myself down. This helped control my impulse to shower and therefore decreased the times I showered per day. But showered less per day seemed not enough for a week task towards myself being more sustainable. I also decided for this week not only to reduce the amount of times I would shower per day but somehow also reduce the time I spend in the shower. I began by timing my shower the first couple I varied from 20 to 30minutes. My goal was to decrease a total of 3 minutes every day until I reached my goal of 10-15minutes per shower. In order to achieve this I tried hurrying while in the shower and not lingering and spacing out. It was hard to achieve this since for me when I shower I consider it my relaxation time. After a few times it started becoming a routine and I began showering faster. Also, timing myself helped me keep track of my improvements. 

Sustainability over break

I have decided to take advantage of this nice weather in my journey to being more sustainable. Now that it is more bearable to be outside I try walking a lot more. I must admit I can get pretty lazy and take cabs even when I am just going a couple blocks away.  Now I decided to walk as much as possible and when it gets too cold for walking I take public transportation for part of my journey. I have been doing this for the past two weeks. I now even find enjoyable and relaxing the walk from the train to work, which is about four blocks .Last week was spring break and I decided to go home to Wheeling in the northwest suburbs. To keep myself in track of being sustainable instead of driving to work I took the Metra all week. Not only I loved the ride because I got to catch up on my reading, I also enjoyed the convenience of not having to look for parking. Parking in the city can get very expensive so the ticket price of the Metra was also convenient. Overall, I am enjoying driving less or taking fewer taxis; the extra walk relaxes me and on the trains I catch up on readings.