After nearly three months of unplugging unused appliances, changing lightbulbs and using leftover shower water to flush the toilet, a Yukon family is winding down its participation in a national conservation contest.

The Kitchen-Kuiack family is one of six Canadian households battling to save energy at home and on the road as part of the Energy Diet Challenge.

In the competition, put on by Shell Canada and Canadian Geographic, families are judged based on their energy reduction, innovation, creativity and through online voting.

The Yukon household of four – mom Marguerite, dad Brian, 17-year-old Simone and 12-year-old Marika – is the only family representing the North.

"It is an honour to be representing this part of the country, especially since we are the only ones,” Marguerite says.

The family making the biggest dent in its carbon footprint will drive away with the grand prize 2012 Toyota Prius hybrid.

The Kitchen-Kuiacks, who have always considered themselves to be conservation-savvy, say they are shocked by how much water and energy they have been able to save so far.

In one month, they knocked 239 kilowatt hours off of their baseline from the same month last year.

"That was just by changing the lighting in our house so that every light was either CFL or LED,” Marguerite said. "We shut off power bars at night, we unplugged any unnecessary appliances. So simple.”

Water conservation has been equally important for the family, who live about 30 minutes outside of the city and pump their own water from the Yukon River.

"We normally fill up our water tanks and we would get a month to six weeks of water,” Brian says.

"We filled up Sept. 12, when the challenge started, We still have one of our small tanks left that we haven't used and we still have water left in one of our other tanks.”

"We could probably get through the rest of the challenge (which will wrap up Dec. 4) without having to fill up again,” added his wife.

Combining laundry into fewer loads, saving shower water to flush the toilet and attaching a shut-off valve between the pipes and the shower head have all been key to conserving H2O.

"They're seven bucks at Canadian Tire, and when we're lathering, up we shut it off and then we turn it on again,” Marguerite says. "It's just a shock that you save so much water.”

When not posting blogs and videos online to engage the public and gain creativity points, the Kitchen-Kuiacks have competed in mini-challenges against the other families.

Most recently, the group was in Toronto competing to go 25 km on as little fuel as possible.

The families worked with John and Helen Taylor, recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's most fuel-efficient driving couple, to learn techniques for saving fuel.

With Simone behind the wheel, the family placed third.

"I learned lots of things about not accelerating fast and not breaking harshly,” said the teen, who's only had her licence for a year. "They should teach that when people are learning to drive.”

For the family's youngest member, taking part in the competition is a chance to protect the environment for the future.

"I think we should not consume as much energy right now because as we get older, there are going to be more and more things that need more energy,” Marika says. "Pretty soon they're going to be making an iPod 14.”

As of Tuesday, the family was ranked first in online voting but will have to wait until mid-December to find out their total overall score and see if they won the car.

"The thing about the voting for me is that it's about engaging the public,” Marguerite says. "It says that Yukoners are interested in the topic, and I think that's pretty cool.”

The contest will wrap up Dec. 4.

To vote for the family online, visit: energydiet.canadiangeographic.ca