Cutting shower time down will save water AND heating costs. We should be able to wash our hair and body in little more than three minutes (okay, maybe a little more if you have hair like Rapunzel).

One cheap and effective way to remind users to monitor their drenching delights is to put an egg timer in the shower cubicle: one of those sand-filled tube things is ideal. Flip it over and start the shower. When it runs out, flip it once more for the rinse off and you should be clean. And nicely energy efficient.

The author has failed to find a device that has an adjustable timer & shuts the shower off after beeping a ‘time’s up’ warning. If you know of one that would work for both electrically heated power showers and booster-pump hot water systems, do let us know. If it also reminds kids to vacuum their rooms occasionally and to help with the washing up, we’ll definitely buy one!