Don’t buy water: A thrifty sister rule!
It has finally become sort of uncool to buy water. Just a few years ago the opposite was true. You might kid yourself now, but bottled water took off because it was cool and convenient, and relatively cheap. Now, we all know better. All those bottles we throw away just sit in landfills, so the green movement has been hard at work to convince us to ease up.
Sometimes it’s not easy to let go. Sometimes you don’t want to carry around your big plastic water bottle everywhere, or you don’t know how to clean it, or if it’s leaching those weird chemicals. I was determined to stop buying water bottles, so I looked for reviews a couple of months ago. I found a great review on Slate. (click here for the review) What I really liked about this review is that along with evaluating if the bottles leached chemicals or if they were convenient, she also rated how they looked and if they would leak when you toss them in your purse.
As I scrolled through the list, I nodded an mm-hmmed at all of her commentary. And then I got to the last bottle. She says:
I thought I’d hate the Platypus, which at first glance bears a disconcerting resemblance to a colostomy bag. But to my astonishment, the collapsible Platypus’”which is made out of safe No. 5 polypropylene plastic’”scored highest in two big categories. It’s by far the most portable. And though originally designed for hikers, it also beautifully realizes my urban eco-chic ideal.
And I agreed whole-heartedly. I wanted one, and my wife bought me one for Christmas (bonus- they’re cheap!) It folds up so small, that when it’s empty it’s just like you aren’t carrying a water bottle around all day. Problem solved. And the best part? The reason I’m posting this to Queercents? Buying water is stupidly expensive. Avoid it. You will save money, and you’ll feel good.
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Martinique Miller lives in Chicago with her partner, Brittany. She writes a personal finance blog with her two sisters, called Thrifty Sisters where they share their success with money.
not to mention, people are willing to pay more for a bottle of water than a gallon of gas… which drives the privatization of water, degrades natural resources and causes us to lose faith and funding in our public water systems. a small example – many of my high school students in nyc refuse to drink tap water all together thinking that bottled water is somehow superior and safer.
I’ve been using a brita pitcher instead of buying water already bottled. I’m still on the hunt for a good resusable water bottle that’s not made of nalgene, but overall it’s going great. Total cost per month is about $5 — it used to be $25-30 a month.
Also! Brita and Pur filters make the water taste a lot better. I don’t like the taste of tap water (especially right after they treat it — yuck!), but with a pitcher it’s great.