Show HN: I reduced my shower time from 30 minutes to 5 with an app I built | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I reduced my shower time from 30 minutes to 5 with an app I built

bathtimer.com

9 pointsbriancldo16 comments

I reduced my shower time from ~20m to 5m by having my water heater fail and it taking a very long time to get it replaced due to global supplychain BS.

I dearly wish we could repair the old one (which has been in service since the 60's, and does a damn good job - none of this safety limiter crap, if you turn it on without mixing in cold water you can get life-threatening scalds) but upon inspection it's severely rusted out and we can't find anyone able to repair it.

That's bad timing, too, assuming it's winter where you live :(

It's summer down here in Australia, so about the best possible timing. If you wait until midday and keep the flow low enough you still get moderately hot water coming out. The benefits of living in an old house with externally-mounted copper piping. If it was winter here it would be very unpleasant.

Unfortunately "lather, rinse, repeat" lacks a termination condition.

It also removes sebum and dries out skin

I feel kinda dull, I'm not sure I understand this?

Lather rinse repeat (as directed on many shampoo bottles) is like an infinite “for” loop of (lather, rinse), meaning you spend forever in the shower.

Hey HN community!

I don't know how many people can relate, but for years, I have been taking 30+ minute showers (sometimes over an hour). It used to always annoy my parents, and there were times my dad would shut off the water to force me out (sometimes mid-soap).

I decided a few years ago to change my ways and reduce my shower time, but whatever I tried didn't work or didn't stick (cold showers only lasted a month, setting a regular timer didn't force me enough). In 2020, I decided to build an app using a certain method I had thought up - a timer that rang for each step of my shower routine! I failed, as my lack of experience as a dev halted development. I always told myself I'd build it for sure one day since it meant so much to me.

Earlier this month, I finished development, and it worked pretty well for me! My shower times are now down to 5 minutes. If you have the same problem I did (or have kids that do), try it out! Even if you don't have that problem, I would be really grateful for any feedback or criticisms of the app.

Thank you for reading!

Fun idea. But with such a short shower time, will you struggle to come up with new ideas?

If you're interested in going the other direction: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NMQTg4Y0YT0

5mins showers? that's crazy. Why waste so much time in the shower every day.

You're right, should keep going lower.

Try a cold shower. If I do that it is 30 seconds. Tops.

30 minutes? Like. What? THIRTY MINUTES for a shower?

Sorry. What?

Absent among the steps was *that* step, which for guys my age is easily the most time-consuming one.

If you're talking about the part where you add steps to your routine, you can add custom step names! Feel free to add that step lol.

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