Recycle standard size, screw-cap soft drink bottles for your family. I have found using the screw-cap soft drink bottles are wonderful for taking drinks with me to work for my small office refrigerator. They freeze very well and are great for car trips.
With the screw caps, you don't worry about spills in the car when tipped over. They also take up less room in the refrigerator at home than a regular pitcher does. I can make up tea or other drinks, fill up my bottles, put the drinks in the refrigerator, then grab one each morning for my lunch bag as I leave. They are easy to wash, too. I buy the large containers of water and just refill the empty soda bottles rather than purchasing cases of water every week.
By Marsha from Greenville, NC
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This is such a good and frugal idea but please read this information 'carefully before reusing' any plastic for food or beverages:
www.thegreenguide.com/
And read the comments in the ThriftyFun archives below too.
I also like to save on filtered water, I have a brita filter & I pour water into glass bottles with screw tops I have saved from bottles that salad dressings come in, they are shaped about like a soda bottle but a wider mouth. So I wash them after each use in the dishwasher & refill with filtered water to take with me. I agree with others about reusing plastic bottles even the first time.
Make sure you disinfect and clean all bacteria you leave before sharing with someone else. There are pros and cons to how many times you can reuse without absorbing contamination or break down.
There has to be the answer somewhere to solve it 100%.
If I were still working away from home rather than from home, I'd do this. As it is, I keep a reusable hard-plastic water bottle on hand at all times. (Of course it gets washed/sanitized regularly.) It won't hold carbonation, but works for everything else. Better to reuse a bottle than add to the landfill!
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Buy a few small bottles of water, then have the 5 gallon bottles delivered and refill your cleaned bottles. Fill bottles with other drinks to have on hand (in the car) for before or after the restaurant, movies, carnival, fair, theme park, etc.
By LRP from LWL, MA
I don't see absolutely anything thrifty in buying 5 gallons of water. When it is economical to buy a water filtration system or even the Pur/Brita water pitchers are cheaper than buying the 5 gallons of water. To me, personally, this is a waste of money. (04/27/2007)
Our water is very bad and really undrinkable even with filters. We buy bottled water at Sams Club at $4.00 for 36 bottles. Most grocery stores offer a water filling station. You can fill a gallon jug for less then .50, definitely a cheaper option. There is a problem with refilling the smaller bottles. I used to use just a couple and refill them repeatedly, but after a while they started tasting really bad. There is something about the bottles that is affected by refilling and over use. So recycle them, but not too many times. (04/27/2007)
By me
While this seems like a good idea, there is no real way (dishwasher or bleach and hot water) to kill the germs that accumulate in these bottles after time. It's been scientifically proven that it can make you sick to reuse them.
2 options, buy water at Costco (Kirkland brand) or any warehouse store, recycle the bottles for money (here in CA 5 cents each) or buy a reusable water bottle that can be sanitized and is good for the environment. I don't know the name of them but I do know that Oprah.com has the link to her "Green" show that should have the water bottles on there. There were some with a filter on them (I checked at our local Whole Foods and she didn't have them but is very interested!) and a metal type one.
I do buy water at Wallyworld for 25 cents a gallon for our water dispenser (hot and cold) but am trying to find a way to be less wastefull with the water bottles but still be safe. Maybe I should get those water bottle names too! (04/27/2007)
By Michawn
Plastic water bottles are made of a very cheap plastic that begins to leach chemicals into the water when you refill them. I would not recommend this practice. (04/28/2007)
By Erin in NC
Bottled water is one of the most wasteful scams in this country. For many years, people drank tap water and were fine. I do understand there is bad water in some places, but most tap water is just fine. Filter it or boil it first or do both if you feel your water is bad. The bottles they use do leach chemicals and collect germs over time no matter how carefully you wash them. It's cheaper to stay healthy and save the planet by not adding to landfills! Consider the hard plastic nalgene type bottles for a healthier, reusable plastic alternative. (08/08/2008)
By Mary
