Living without hot water (relatively)

For about three weeks now, our bathroom tub hot water knob has not been working correctly, leading to a slow increase in hot water leaking from the faucet. We are now at the point where we have turned the hot water tank tap off, and have been at this point for about two weeks. What does that mean, you ask? I means we have no hot water. Well, relatively. For taking showers, doing laundry and such, we turn it on, but as soon as its done, the tap is turned right back off. Its been interesting. There have been times when I have needed to rinse out a mug because there was coffee dried in it, and hot water makes it quick (I'm terrible for leaving a quarter of a cup of coffee or latte in my to-go ceramic mug). My solution is to just boil some water. My husband though, is kind of a wuss (mind you, he does have poor circulation in his hands) once asked me while he was in the middle of washing his hands if I could go turn on the hot water for him because he didn't want to wash his hands in cold water. Silly Husband! My ingenious solution to water going down the drain from the leaky faucet is, in my opinion, awesome. I took one of our unused garbage cans, rigged up some contraption to keep it from falling over, and now it collects the leaky water. When we go to use the bathroom, we just pour the water from the garbage can to 'flush' the toilet. Recycling and reusing at its best! As of right now, the tap is suppose to be fix on Sunday. If its not, I get to phone a plumber and get it done my way. But for now, I am learning how to be resourceful in our funny situation.