I drink a lot of water, which is a good thing. But for some reason the other day I got to thinking about how much it might cost if every single drop of water I drank came from a plastic bottle!
Andy and I have one of these guys in our fridge:
It’s a bit of a pain to keep it filled, but it’s so handy to be able to fill my 32 ounce Nalgene bottle and drink out of it all day. (In fact, I actually drink 2 Nalgene bottles full every day, along with extra glasses of water.)
I started wondering how much money we saved by not buying bottled water. My decision to not drink bottled water every day is more about the eco-element of not using so much plastic, but I bet we save some money, too. I know a lot of people don’t like the taste or the chemicals that can be found in tap water, but the filter takes care of those for us.
We replace the filter about once every 3 months, and we buy them in multi-packs, usually from Amazon, for around $20.00.
A 24-pack of bottled water was on sale at Kroger this week for $3.69 (and I have no idea how much the normal price is, or how that price compares to other brands). Given the amount of water I drink, I would go through at least 4 of those bottles EVERY DAY, meaning the 24-pack would last 6 days. And that’s not including the fact that Andy also drinks water! In the 3 months that our filter lasts, we would have to buy about 15 24-packs of water, costing us at least $55.35. SO, by using our fridge filter and refilling bottles, we save about $45.00+ over er 3 months, or $15.00+ a month (and again, this is assuming that only I am drinking the water). I know we spend some on the water from our tap, but I’m pretty sure that it’s not $15.00 of our water bill.
It might not sound like that much, but it’s the little things that add up. I know I could likely use coupons and get the water for cheaper, but the bottles would still incur a global cost of recycling the plastic that is not exactly measurable.
So the next time I’m ticked off that the filter pitcher is empty just as I want a glass of water, I’m going to remember that $45.00 (though I wouldn’t mind eventually replacing it with a faucet-mount filter so I could have instant gratification…)
Do you have any money-saving or eco-friendly tips? What kind of water do you drink?
