| How to Save Water Posted: 12 Oct 2020 05:00 PM PDT If you can cut back on the amount of water you use every day, you'll be doing the planet a big favor. Using water efficiently helps to preserve the environment, minimize the impact of droughts, and take some pressure off of the public water supply. You're also keeping some money in your pocket by cutting down on your utility costs. Saving water doesn't require major lifestyle changes either—changing a few small habits can go a long way towards making the world a better place! [Edit]Fix minor leaks around your home.[1] - Replace damaged pipes and leaky faucets to avoid wasting water. Inspect your water meter and utility bills every month to see how much water you're using. If you notice a random spike, it may be a sign that you have a leaky pipe somewhere in your home.[2] A poorly-sealed pipe or leaky toilet can waste up to of water a day, so resolving these problems can save a lot of water in the long run.[3]
- While it varies based on the size of your household and how long you spend in the shower, the average household uses roughly of water a day. This comes out to a month.[4] If that seems like a lot of water, it's because it is! This is one of the main reasons saving water is important.
- Check your toilet for internal leaks by pouring a drop of food coloring in your toilet's tank and waiting 10 minutes. If the food coloring shows up in the bowl, you have a leaky toilet to fix or replace.[5]
[Edit]Turn the faucet off while you brush or shave.[6] - This is one of the easiest ways to cut back on your water usage. There's no need to keep the water running while you're in the process of cleaning your teeth or trimming your beard. It may sound hard to believe, but you can save roughly of water a month just by shutting the water off once you go about your business![7]
- For every 1 minute your tap is running, you're pouring of water down the drain, so this definitely adds up over time.[8]
[Edit]Take shorter showers.[9] - Get into the habit of taking showers that last 5 minutes or less whenever you can.[10] Everyone loves a long, hot shower, but your showerhead uses roughly of water a minute. You'll save a lot of water over time if you stick with short rinses, and you'll be just as squeaky clean as you normally would after a long shower.
- If you're thinking about switching to baths to conserve water, keep in mind that a bath typically requires of water while a short shower will only use .[11]
[Edit]Flush the toilet only when necessary.[12] - The toilet only needs to be flushed when you've finished using the bathroom. Don't dump tissues or cigarette butts in your toilet to use it like a convenient waste basket. Skip that courtesy flush and only flush once when you're done using the John.[13] If you have one of those dual-flush toilets, be sure to use the smaller button when getting rid of liquid waste to avoid wasting water.
- Depending on when your toilet was manufactured, a single flush requires of water.[14] That's a lot of water over time!
[Edit]Displace some of the water in your toilet.[15] - To save the amount of water you use with each flush, fill a disposable water bottle or airtight bag with pebbles and drop it in your toilet's tank.[16] This will displace some of the water and minimize the amount of H2O needed to fill the tank. It may not seem like a lot, but a pebble-filled water bottle will save with each flush![17] If you flush four times a day, that'll save you almost of water a year!
- You may stumble across a website or two that suggests using sand instead of pebbles. But if your bag or bottle isn't airtight and the sand gets into the water, it may mess with your toilet's flush valve. Do this at your own discretion.
[Edit]Switch to water-saving fixtures.[18] - Swap out your showerhead and faucets for low-flow alternatives.[19] By upgrading your showerhead and sink fixtures, you'll cut back dramatically on your water usage. This is an easy way to conserve water without even changing the way you wash, flush, or shower![20]
- If you don't have the time or money to upgrade your fixtures, at least install a cheap aerator on each of your faucets to throttle the water flow.[21] The odds are high you won't even notice it's there!
[Edit]Run your dishwasher only when it's full.[22] - Using household appliances more effectively is a great way to save water. There's nothing wrong with trying to keep your kitchen clean, but you're going through a lot of water if you're in the habit of running your dishwasher every day. By waiting until the dishwasher is full, you're getting the most bang for your buck when it comes to the water you're using.[23]
- If you're thinking about throwing that dishwasher out altogether to conserve water, keep in mind that running your dishwasher will almost always use less water than hand-washing your dishes.[24]
[Edit]Do full loads of laundry with cold water.[25] - If you do have to wash a smaller load of laundry, make sure you adjust the dial that controls the water level to compensate.[26] Always make sure that you have enough dirty clothing for a full load. Try to stick with cold water washes as well, since the cold water setting on most machines uses less water and energy.[27]
- While it may feel counterintuitive, washing or cleaning clothes with too much water will actually keep your clothes from getting completely clean, so you'll get fresher whites and deeper colors by washing full loads too![28]
[Edit]Store a pitcher of water in your fridge.[29] - When you turn the sink on, you typically have to wait 30 seconds or so for the water to get really cold. Every time you want to drink an ice cold glass of water, you're pouring a lot of perfectly good water down the drain. By filling up a pitcher and placing it in your fridge, you'll always have some cold water ready to go without waiting on your tap. This doesn't seem like a lot now, but over time you'll save some serious water.[30]
- You can buy a pitcher with a filter on it if you want to improve the quality and the taste of the water you keep in your fridge!
[Edit]Cut back on water when you cook.[31] - Defrost your food in the fridge instead of submerging it in cold water. If you hand wash your pots and pans, use a large bowl filled with water instead of letting the faucet run. Whenever you boil something, use just enough water to cover the food instead of filling the pot to the rim.[32] None of these steps will save a lot of water on their own, but they'll definitely add up over time!
[Edit]Use water-efficient appliances.[33] - The next time you need to replace a dishwasher, washing machine, or water heater, purchase a water-efficient appliance. Not only will this cut back on your water consumption, but you'll save money over time when it comes to utility costs.[34] If you live in the United States or you purchase American appliances, look for the EPA's WaterSense stamp of approval when you're shopping for appliances. Any machine with this sticker on it uses at least 20% less water than the average appliance.[35]
- As a rule of thumb, front-loading washers use less water than top-loading machines.[36]
- If you can, buy appliances that are also energy-efficient. In the United States, look for appliances with the Energy Star sticker.[37]
[Edit]Change your gardening habits.[38] - There are a variety of ways to save water when you're landscaping or gardening. Stick with native or drought-resistant plants for your garden to avoid the need for frequent watering.[39] Collect rainwater to water your plants and use a watering can instead of a hose. Weed and prune your garden regularly to keep plants healthy and cut back on the water requirements for your plants.[40]
- Set your lawnmower blades to be high when mowing, since longer grass helps soil retain moisture, which can help fight droughts.[41]
- Collecting rainwater is easier than you may think. Just divert your gutters to run off into a large bin.[42]
[Edit]Compost food scraps instead of disposing them.[43] - Create a compost pile or start a compost bin. When you're cleaning up after eating, toss any food scraps in the compost so you can use it in your garden to fertilize the soil later on. This will cut back on how often you need to water your plants, since compost will help plants retain moisture.[44] It will also keep you from turning that garbage disposal on, which often wastes a lot of water.[45]
- Feel free to compost any veggies, fruits, bread, or grains. Coffee grounds and eggshells are great for compost as well.[46]
- Stay away from composting meat or dairy. These items tend to take too long to break down and they'll attract rats, raccoons, and other pests.[47]
[Edit]Avoid washing your car or use a bucket.[48] - Put the hose down and let the rain clean your car for you. If you do feel the need to wash your vehicle, fill a few buckets instead of using your garden hose to clean your vehicle off and rinse it.[49] If you use a hose to wash your vehicle, you'll use roughly of water. A few buckets will only require , though.[50]
- There are waterless cleaning products that you can use to clean your vehicle. This will cut out the need for water entirely![51]
[Edit]Sweep your driveway instead of washing it.[52] - You don't need a hose or pressure washer to keep your sidewalk, driveway, and porch clean. Instead, pick a broom up and brush any debris aside. If something is especially dirty, grab a damp cloth and clean it by hand instead of leaving the hose running. It may take a few extra minutes, but you're saving a lot of water by sweeping or hand-wiping instead of washing things outside.[53]
[Edit]Related wikiHows [Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary |
| How to Play a Video in a Zoom Meeting Posted: 12 Oct 2020 09:00 AM PDT This wikiHow will teach you how to play a video in a Zoom meeting so all the participants will see and hear it. It's a particularly useful tool for teachers presenting a video in a lesson. For the best results, you should use the desktop client to screen share your video. Using the mobile app to share video may result in the loss of audio. - Join or host a Zoom meeting. For more information on joining a meeting, refer to How to Join a Zoom Meeting on PC or Mac.
- If you want to host the meeting, open the desktop client, log in, and click New Meeting .
- Click . It's a green button centered at the bottom of the application window.
- Check the box next to "Optimize Screen Sharing for Video Clip." When you click this box, the box next to "Share computer sound" checks off too, which will ensure your audience hears the video sound.
- Click a window or application to share. You'll see all the screens you can share, including your Zoom screen and any tabs and windows you have open in a web browser, like YouTube.[1]
- Click . Once you share the selected screen, the participants in the Zoom meeting will see what you've selected.
- For example, if you selected a YouTube page in the previous step, the participants in the Zoom meeting will see the YouTube page in your web browser. You can click the full-screen icon in the bottom right corner of the YouTube video to make it full-screen.
- When you want to stop sharing, click Stop Share at the top of your screen.[2]
[Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary |
| How to Iron a Dress Shirt Posted: 12 Oct 2020 01:00 AM PDT Ironing might feel like a chore to you, especially if you don't feel like you're very good at it. Luckily, while it might seem tough, ironing a shirt is no big deal. In just a few minutes, you can become an ironing master! Plug your iron in and get started, and your shirt will be looking crisp in no time.
[Edit]Setting Up the Iron - Fill the iron with fresh tap water. In almost all cases, fresh water from your tap is fine for ironing. Fill the iron up before getting started.[1]
- Some older advice said to use distilled water, but this isn't necessary and might even damage the iron.
- The one exception is if the tap water in your area is particularly hard, meaning it has a lot of dissolved minerals in it. In this case, mix the tap water with half distilled water.[2]
- Select a high heat setting for cotton shirts. Most dress shirts are made with cotton, so a high heat setting is best. This will give you a nice, crisp finish.[3]
- Always check the care tag to confirm the material that the shirt is made from. The care tag may also give the ideal temperature setting for the iron.
- Polyester, wool, and silk shirts can't handle high heats, so make sure you set the heat lower if you have shirts made from these materials. Don't go any higher than the low or medium setting on your iron.
- Set the iron to its highest steam setting. You'll need plenty of steam for a good finish, so don't be shy. Crank up the steam setting to high. This will smooth out your dress shirts nicely.[4]
- Spritz all your shirts with a spray bottle before ironing. Damp shirts tend to smooth out better, and a little extra moisture helps really get rid of those wrinkles. Fill a spray bottle with clean tap water and spritz down all the spots you're ironing first. This should give you a smoother finish.[5]
- You can skip this step if your clothes are still damp from washing.
- Pop the shirt collar and flatten it onto the ironing board. Take the shirt and flip the collar up. Press the back of the shirt down onto the ironing board in any spot so the front of the collar faces up. Flatten the collar out so it's nice and even.[6]
- Some dress shirts have buttons holding the collar down, so make sure you undo these first.
- Remember to unbutton the shirt too.
- Slide the iron across the collar. Press the iron down against one side of the collar. Then apply gentle pressure and slide the iron smoothly from one side to the other to work out any wrinkles.[7]
- You can make a few more passes if the collar still looks wrinkled, but 1 or 2 is usually enough.
- Some say that you'll get a better finish if you iron the front or back of the collar first.[8] There's disagreement, so you can experiment to see if you notice a difference.
- Flip the shirt and iron the other side of the collar. Once the front of the collar is nice and smooth, flip the shirt over. Flatten out the collar again, then pass over it with the iron. This way, both sides of your collar are crisp and smooth.[9]
- If you're having trouble getting any of the wrinkles out, try spritzing the collar with the spray bottle a bit more.
[Edit]Front and Back - Flatten the buttoned side of the shirt onto the ironing board. Take the side of the shirt with the buttons and tuck the neck over the pointy part of the ironing board. Then press the shirt onto the ironing board, trying to stretch it out a bit lengthwise. Smooth it out so it's nice and tight against the board.[10]
- Slide the iron from the outside of the shirt towards the buttons. Hold the iron so it points up toward the shirt collar. Press it down onto the shirt with gentle pressure, and work it horizontally from the outside to the inside toward the buttons. Stop when you reach the buttons. Continue working in this pattern until the side of the shirt is smooth.[11]
- Be careful not to hit any of the buttons with the iron or you could rip them off.
- If the space in between the buttons is wrinkly, then carefully press the thin point of the iron into these spots.
- Repeat the same motion on the other side of the shirt. When you're done on the first side, flatten out the other side of the shirt onto the ironing board and tuck the neck over the pointed part of the board. Smooth out this side with the iron using the same motion as you used on the first side.[12]
- On most dress shirts, the pocket is on the side without the buttons. Smooth over this very carefully so you don't rip it.
- Run the iron down the buttonhole section. This is the placket, the part with the buttonholes. You want this to look nice and crisp too. Press the iron down at the top of the placket near the neck. Then smoothly run it down the placket to flatten it out.[13]
- Don't try this same motion on the other side with the buttons, or you might rip them off.
- Flip the shirt and iron the back. Once you're done with the front of the shirt, move on to the back. Flip it over and center the collar at the pointy edge of the ironing board. Tuck the collar over the pointy part to hold it in place. Flatten the shirt out, then slide the iron from the top of the shirt down. Work in even rows to avoid making any new wrinkles.[14]
- You could also do the back of the shirt first if you prefer. The order doesn't matter.
- Slide the shirt left or right to get any sections that couldn't fit. You probably won't be able to fit the whole back of the shirt onto the ironing board, so slide it to the side so you can reach the rest of it. First, slide it to the left and iron that section. Finally, slide it to the right and iron this part to finish up the back.[15]
- Finish up with the stitched section on the shoulders. This is the yoke, the boxy section on the back around the shoulders. Adjust the shirt so the whole yoke is sitting on the ironing board at any point. Slide the iron across it to work out any wrinkles.[16]
- It's common to miss this spot, and many people overlook it. Don't be one of them! Make sure your whole shirt is crisp and smooth.
[Edit]Sleeves and Cuffs - Spread out the shirt cuffs and press them flat. Unbutton all the parts of the cuff and open them up. Then press the cuff flat onto the ironing board at any point, facing up.[17]
- Iron the inside of the cuff first. This gives you a crisper finish. Slide the iron across the inside of the cuff from one side to the other.[18]
- You might find it easier to just use the front edge of the iron for this. It fits into the cuff better.
- Watch out for the buttons here too. You don't want to rip any parts of the shirt.
- Flip the sleeve and iron the outside of the cuff. With the inside of the cuff done, flip the sleeve so you can reach the outside. Flatten out, the same way as you did with the inside. Then slide the iron across the cuff to smooth it out.[19]
- Repeat the same steps for the other cuff.
- Spread the sleeve out and iron it. Turn the shirt so the sleeve points down the length of the shirt. Stretch out one of the sleeves and press it down onto the ironing board. Make sure the sleeve is folded at the seam. Then work the iron from the top of the sleeve down until you reach the cuff.[20]
- If there are still some wrinkles left, work the iron across the sleeve to smooth them out.
- Turn the sleeve and iron the other side. Finally, all that's left is the other side of the sleeve. Flip the shirt over and flatten the sleeve out. Then gently run the iron down the sleeve to the cuff. If there are still wrinkles, then work the iron across the sleeve towards the seam as well.[21]
- Repeat these steps for the last sleeve. Once you've successfully ironed one sleeve, the other one is no problem! Simply flip the shirt over and stretch out the sleeve down the ironing board. Give it a quick ironing and your shirt is all set to wear.[22]
- Smooth, even strokes are best for a crisp finish. Try to avoid quick or jerky movements.[23]
- Waist-height is usually the ideal setting for your ironing board.
- If you aren't wearing the shirt, then hang it right away so it stays wrinkle-free.
[Edit]Warnings - Don't leave the iron in one spot or you could burn the shirt.
[Edit]Related wikiHows [Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary |
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