save your rain water for plants

Catch the rainwater from your gutter downspouts in large bowls or buckets, and use it for watering plants. Saves a good bit of water, and you'll feel good about being "green". And, if you want to catch more than a few bucket fulls:

A typical 1/2-inch rainfall would fill a 55 gallon barrel. You can collect a half gallon of water per square foot of roof area during a 1-inch rainfall. So, a 2,000-square-foot roof can collect about 1,000 gallons of water, after accounting for runoff losses.