According to the Brita company, which makes water filters, you can save $1,700 a year on water if you use a Brita water filter. They have ads on television emphasizing where all of those bottles of water that we purchase end up in a landfill practically forever. Their website, filerforgood.com also talks about the value in using a filter instead of buying bottles of water.
I’ve never done the calculations for bottled water. Do some people only consume bottled water even when they are at home? One of the commercials shows a woman sitting in bed reading with a bottle of water on the night stand. I don’t think I would ever do this. In general, we purchase bottled water only when we are out at a restaurant that won’t serve water for free and won’t allow us to bring in drinks (as you can imagine, we don’t go to these places very often). we also might purchase some if we find ourselves outside on a hot day and unprepared.
On a recent weekend trip to NYC, we did do just that, purchasing two bottles of water that we shared. We got our bottles for $1 each, but just a very short walk away bottles of water were selling for twice that much at $2 each. For the rest of the trip, we just refilled our water bottles with water from the tap or water fountains (NYC water is some of the finest around). We also bought a large container of juice at a local supermarket to get us through with the kids. Next time, we will come armed with our own reusable water bottles.
At home, we just drink water from the tap or the fridge. Both do have filters, simply because we have well water that contains a lot of minerals. Our water treatment system ensures that there is no bacteria around. When we lived on city water, we went without a filter, drinking straight from the tap.
We do drink mostly water at home, so if we had to relay on bottled water (which may just be tap water in some cases), we might very well spend that amount. As it is, we were out $2 for the weekend.
Do you buy bottled water?
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don’t miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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