During seasons that are very dry across the country, some cities are asking residents to do everything that they can to conserve water and to reduce consumption as much as possible. There are a number of things that you can do to help in this endeavor and save yourself a little bit of money in the mean time.

One of the first things that you can do, if you live in one of these areas, is to not water your lawn as often as you probably do. Many people do this with a garden hose, but if you have sprinklers to do it for you, you should make sure your sprinklers do not waste water by shooting it over the driveway or the sidewalk. Changing the head of the sprinkler may help with this, as well.

Set the timer for your sprinklers for shorter times. This means that you should allow your sprinklers to water their areas for 5 minutes, wait around 15 minutes, and then set it to water for another five minutes. This gives the water that was sprayed the first time a chance to seep down into the soil.

Turn the timer on your sprinklers off when you know it is going to rain. You should not turn it back on for at least 2 or 3 days after it rains and if your sprinkler has a "rain delay" feature on it, you can set this.

Try to water your lawn during the early morning, since the water will not evaporate as quickly and this is a naturally good time for plants to be both fed and watered. Watering should be avoided in the middle of the day, since this is the hottest portion. A large quantity of the water will evaporate and be wasted.

Inside the house, you can reduce your water consumption by taking short showers instead of baths. A ten minute shower with a standard showerhead will amount to about half of a full tub of water or less, so try to take showers, especially if you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry. There is no sense in running a full tub of water if you are going to jump in and then right back out.

Try not to do half loads of dishes or clothes. Even though you can change the amount of water that you use in the clothes washer, you still use about the same amount of electricity to run the cycle, so you are still better off just doing a full load.