Save water, give the car a waterless carwash.

Whether you live in a drought-prone area or not, dumping buckets of water to clean the car seems a little extravagant. How extravagant you wonder? With most garden hoses spraying about 10 gallons of water a minute, the average driveway wash uses between 80 and 140 gallons of water. That’s a lot actually—and in places now forced to restrict usage so there’ll be water to drink at summer’s end, that’s too much and probably wouldn’t be allowed.

Fortunately, you can give the car a good scrub down using less water than it takes to brush your teeth. Spray on a waterless car wash that breaks down grime and can be wiped off without the rinse. Eco Touch's waterless car wash uses just 4 to 6 ounces of water per wash and polishes as it cleans (www.ecotouch.net). Lucky Earth's Waterless Car Wash (www.luckyearth.com) will get between seven and ten washes per bottle.