Comments on: The Switch to Hand-Bottled Water

By: Ruth

Ruth — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 18:15:42 +0000

Wow, so many negative comments. I for one loved the post and liked the idea about putting lemon juice in water…. I’m going to try it now! It sounds great.

and for the others who are so negative… just let it go, it was a great post… but it was good.

By: kristine

kristine — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 04:13:28 +0000

Many people have poo-pooed those how have complained of late, but the truth is, this site has a reciprocal relationship. The blogger is asking people for their time, or at least hoping to get it, and this readership provides his main source of income. He provides content in exchange.

In this kind of self-employment, there is no other performance review other than the commenters. And from my background in advertising, I can tell you that you want the squeaky wheels. Your worst luck is customers/readers who say nothing, then quietly just go away when they lose interest. This affords no notice to be aware of a shortcoming, and no opportunity to change it. Winning back almost never works, and is almost never cost-effective.

It is 10X easier to keep a client/ customer/reader than it is to recruit a new one. Calling out complacency may seem rude or ungrateful, but instead, it is valuable feedback- a call to action, and it can keep an endeavor on track.

By: PBM

PBM — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:24:54 +0000

I totally agree with #70. If you don’t like the article, just skip it. As you can see, there will be some that appreciate the reminder or whatever.

Quit yer griping, how about it and take a thankful pill.

By: G

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:28:45 +0000

I refill our water bottles everyday for the school day and car trips.

One thing that I love to use is a high quality water bottle brush (a baby bottle brush is similar but does not compare as well). The Oxo brush (about 16$) has a long handle and gets the bottom on the inside of the bottle clean, especially from juice or milk. (We like an ounce of juice in our large bottle of water.) It keeps the bottles clean and gets rid of “the smell” my kid complains about if the bottle is not squeeky clean. This brush is really worth the money, I have one I have used for years.

Great post.

By: Aryn

Aryn — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:38:04 +0000

@Tally – Get a Brita pitcher, fill it, and keep it in the fridge. We also tried a Pur filter directly on the faucet. Those will resolve the issue of the rusty water, which is most likely from the pipes in your house/apartment. It will also improve the taste of the tap water.

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:33:48 +0000

@Megan
We’ve had the SodaStream (a.k.a. Soda Club) for years, and we love it! My husband drinks the actual sodas, and I just prefer the seltzer. Seltzer is so overpriced in this country, so you save a ton by using the carbonator.

By: Vickie

Vickie — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:15:21 +0000

Nice article….I agree, it’s easy and convenient to have bottles of water ready in the fridge. My son is always thirsty when I pick him up from school and we were always stopping to get him something to drink. Then of course while you’re already in the store the snacks look good. Saves us a lot of money to NOT have to have that daily stop.

By: Bianca

Bianca — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:11:39 +0000

Dear Trent,

I am a blogger from The Netherlands and share your vision on frugality.
However, I decided to invest in 2 Klean Kanteen water bottles, since they’re BPA-free. The thing with regular plastic containers is that after reusing them over and over again small particles of hazardous material will mix with your tap water. Although not cheap, maybe this is a sustainable and safer solution?

http://www.kleankanteen.com/

Best wishes,
Bianca

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:57:18 +0000

Sometimes when I read through the comments it makes me wonder why Trent even bothers providing us with free content here on TSD. I suppose he realizes that only a small percentage of readers post in the forums, and that there are likely many many people who value his articles for something more than a topic to complain about. Personally I prefer skipping articles completely that do not interest me, or finding pieces of the articles that I can use in my own life, rather than complain about them. To each his own, however.

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:51:22 +0000

Drinking water from the tap is a great way to reduce waste in more ways than one.

However, I’m a little concerned with buying super-cheap containers and the risk of leaching whatever cheap material they’re made from. While I don’t have any hard facts to back this up, I’m a little weary after all the BPA talk. Perhaps this was way hyped up, but I would still rather spend an extra few dollars on the container than take the risk. I also think well-made products can provide better tasting water than cheap ones that may negatively influence flavors.

By: kristine

kristine — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:32:06 +0000

Oh, and pardon my manners…thank you Stephanie! And you, too, Interested Reader for that enlightenment.

By: Tally

Tally — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:24:02 +0000

I don’t trust the tap water here to be clean enough. Especially since I have to run the tap for 5 seconds before non-rusty water comes out. I’m happy with bottled water.

By: kristine

kristine — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:17:31 +0000

Wow. I now know that should never, ever, buy Fiji brand water. The earth, and all her splendor, seems to be riddled with price tags. How long before someone starts selling the rights to species of wild birds, and you have to pay if one nests in your tree? The human genome is already being patented, piece by piece. That’s like patenting your liver, because maybe you are the first person who figures out how a liver works, so noone else can make medicines to fix anybody’s liver, because you own the rights! It’s a mad world sometimes!

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:28:44 +0000

With a lot of others this seems like a “repeat” artcle.

By: Megan

Megan — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:41:27 +0000

I have almost always been opposed to the idea of buying bottled water (or any sort of bottled drink). There have always been bottles of water in reusable containers in fridge, even when I was a kid.

The only exception I have made to my “no bottled water” policy was buying Faygo sparkling water when I lived in Michigan. I developed a taste for sparkling water while on study abroad in Germany, and I just like the fizz. Sometimes I crave it.

Now that we live in Colorado I can’t get my sparkling water anymore (Faygo doesn’t distribute it’s sparkling water this far West). When we first moved out here, I would satisfy my fizz craving with soda, but now I try to stay away from soda because a) the sugar, b) the calories, and c) the expense (I can’t drink diet soda because I’m allergic to fake sugar (and it tastes gross)).

The solution: The SodaStream. It seems like a pretty frivolous purchase at first glance, and I might never have bought it for myself but I got it for Christmas and now that I have it, I love it.

I use their flavored water add-ins occasionally ( a pack of three came with it and I bought another pack since), but mostly I just carbonate my own water and add a little bit of lemon juice. It’s great. Now I get my fizz and save on cost (the carbonation for the SodaStream tacks about $0.50 onto cost of bottling my own water, as opposed to the $0.99 I was paying for pre-bottled water, plus the social cost and carbon footprint of any bottled water.)

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:32:13 +0000

I have a quart Mason jar with a handle. I put some ice in it and add water from the tap. No storage necessary. Unless your tap water is really bad, drink it. I grew up drinking the nastiest tasting water on earth, but I have it to thank for great teeth.

By: Interested Reader

Interested Reader — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:27:46 +0000

Stephanie – you may also want to google Fiji water thyphus. You’ll read about how there have been outbreaks of thypus because local Fijians don’t have access to enough fresh water. The water for the Fiji brand bottled water comes from either the biggest or the second biggest source for fresh water and it’s entirely owned by a corporation.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:36:25 +0000

@Kristine–I looked up the Bolivian water conflict and it was heartbreaking. I never knew about it until I saw your comment. I agree with a lot of the comments about the decline in the quality of TSD here lately. Usually I just skim Trent’s articles and only read the comments–that’s where I usually learn the most as was the case here with your comment.

By: renee

renee — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:15:01 +0000

I thought your post made for a nice read. I keep bottled water in the fridge and grab one when I head out the door or go to work in the yard. Some are new bottles, some are refilled bottles. All the G’kids have their own lidded cup/bottle to keep spills from happening. When I am home I fill a glass. Cucumbers are good in water,and the strawberry idea is good. #10 – sometimes everyone needs a reminder.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:00:07 +0000

The part I liked best about this post is the section on adding variety/flavor to your water. For me and my roommate, the hardest part about drinking water over tea or juice is that after a while, water is boring.

I like to mix it up by using frozen strawberries instead of ice cubes, or adding a bit of lime juice and stevia (to cut down on the sugar I’m drinking) to make a quick limeade.

My roommate finds that fun straws also increase her willingness to drink water.