I do not have consistent running water in my home, which is typical for my area, but one of the biggest differences from a typical U.S. home. My water "arrives" at my house just about once every day, and it can come at any moment. I can typically hear a dripping noise coming from the bathroom, which tells me to open the faucet to collect water... but if I'm not there or I miss the "drip drip drip," I'm out of luck!
I store my water in a four-foot tank that sits in my shower, and I use that water for every task from dish washing to laundry to bathing to teeth brushing to toilet flushing to floor cleaning - all separately, of course. This means that I "bucket shower," that is, I use a bucket to remove water from the tank and pour it over my head to wash and rinse my body. I also "bucket flush," which means my toilet doesn't flush on its own, and I have to manually flush it by dumping water down the drain. To wash dishes, I use two big bowls - one filled with water and soap, and one filled with water and a touch of bleach - and I throw the dirty water outside when I'm done.
Drinking water is another story. Since the water here is not safe to drink, I buy "botellones" from the local corner store, which are big plastic jugs of water I use to drink, make coffee, make ice, and boil food with.
While this may sound pretty crazy, I am very privileged to have water that comes to my home consistently. There are nearby communities that will go without water for weeks on end, and because of this, the townspeople have had to bathe and do their laundry in the river, which is a situation I have been lucky enough to avoid.
My bedroom is probably my favorite room in the house.
