tried something last night. some might think inappropriate but I thought it was smart. I often take a bath after a ride & shower off to rinse. I stop the tub, add epsom salt & bath soap. but yesterday, afterwards, I considered the amount of clean bath water & that I wanted to wash some hand towels & my riding clothes. I'm riding more now so there are more small loads of riding gear. this time, while I started the machine & added detergent, I also added several buckets of bath water. so at least I saved some water for the 1st fill of the wash cycle