With summer finally here, kids get off school, and you may be doing more activities at home.

Rain is usually less frequent around this time of the year as well. The combination of kids looking for entertainment at home—such as running through sprinklers—and plants still needing a lot of water to stay healthy can mean an increase in your water usage and bills.

But there are things you can do to keep this under control.

Choose Your Watering Time Carefully

If you have trees, lawns, flowers, vegetables or any other kind of plants on your property, then hydration is essential to keeping them healthy and looking attractive.

Unfortunately, summer can sometimes be bad for natural hydration through rainfall, meaning we have to resort to our home water supply. If you water plants in the middle of the day, this often results in a much faster evaporation of water that could have been used by the plants for longer periods of time.

If you want to ensure that you don’t need to water your plants as frequently, try hydrating them either in the morning or the evening. The cooler temperatures mean water doesn’t evaporate as quickly, letting the plants maximize it for usage.

Cover Your Swimming Pool

Some homeowners are lucky enough to enjoy a pool in their yard that they can enjoy all year round. So it’s not unusual to forget to empty the pool out, or have a cover for it when not in use for long periods of time.

However, choosing to cover your pool can save you both water and maintenance. A covered pool means that far less water is lost to evaporation.

A covered pool is also protected against detritus such as leaves falling in, or, worse yet, contaminants such as bird droppings that force your chemicals and filters to work harder.

Build A Water Wall

This is a great, stimulating activity for younger children if you have them. It’s a water based activity that doesn’t use a whole lot of water and is perfect for a yard. Just take some funnels, bottles, pipes and tubes and string up along a small vertical structure.

Place a container filled with water at the bottom. Let your kids experiment with pouring the water through the different pipes and funnels and see how it reacts on the way down. It’s a good learning tool for very young children that stimulates them and gives you a chance to interact with them without spending a lot on wasted water.