Drinks really add up
Staying hydrated is good for you, and the
more water you drink the better you'll feel. However, your wallet
will feel much better if you break any dependence you currently have on
bottled water. Sure, it's easy to pick up a bottle from the
vending machine at work, but did you know that if you traded tap water
for a single purchased bottle of water per day, you'd save nearly $550
per year? (Figure out the exact financial and
environmental costs of bottled water here.) Just buy two
reusable water bottles (we've moved to metal for health reasons and
because the water inside tastes much better) and you're all set for a
1,500% return on your investment in the first year.
But maybe you're not a water drinker. Perhaps you imbibe soda at
the national average of 557 cans per year, which can cost you anywhere
from $200 if you buy it at the grocery store to $600 if you buy it out
of a vending machine. Instead, why not make your own sweet
tea? (That's southern-speak for sweetened iced tea.) Mark
likes his drinks sweet and copious, and I like to keep him off
caffeine, so we pay top dollar for decaffeinated tea bags in the
grocery store --- about $150 per year for his half gallon a day.
If you don't mind caffeinated tea bags, you will probably be paying
half that, all while saving your body from the evils of high fructose
corn syrup and scary additives.
| This post is part of our Frugal Living Tips lunchtime series.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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