Here’s a way to Go Green that is so easy, anyone can do it and it won’t cost you much at all. In fact, it will probably save you in the long run.
I’ve been doing Weight Watchers since December of 2007 and one of the only ways I’ve made sure that I get my daily allotment of water in was to carry around bottles of Dasani water. It made sticking to water convenient because I could just throw the bottles into my trunk and grab them on the way to class or to work or to the gym. But after I’d finish the bottle off…right into the trash it would go.
But oh! I loved the convenience and I loved the taste. No one can argue with me that the different waters don’t taste different. Of course they do and to me, Dasani was my favorite. It still is.
That being said, drinking three or four bottles a day makes for a huge amount of waste. I’m embarressed by this waste, which is why I decided to stop buying the bottles of water and keep water bottles handy instead. last night, I purchased my first bottle.
It was serendipity. I was standing in line at my grocery store and on a little stand there was a bunch of Brita products and water bottles filled with Crystal Light flavor packets. The bottles were green and black with the Brita logo and the words FilterForGood.Com I Pledge to Reduce Bottled Water Waste
I picked one up for about $6.95 which I thought was a little pricy but I spend $5 on a case of Dasani water bottles and this bottle was filled with different flavors of Crystal Light. I thought it was a pretty good deal then. And when I got home I discovered that there was a coupon packet inside for bottles, Brita filters and Brita pitchers which is awesome because we’ve been talking about getting a new Brita pitcher for our fridge, a $19.99 value with a $5 off coupon inside this bottle. Score.
I’ve got a bottle of pink lemonade tasting water next to me right now at work and I’ve gone through about half the bottle (it looks like it holds 24 oz). I decided to check out www.filterforgood.comand was pleased to discover that it’s less a page about getting you to buy Birta products, and more about saving the Earth one bottle at a time. I signed up to take the pledge and the offered me all the same coupons I’d gotten in my bottle the night before. They also allow you to buy their bottles like mine online, though they cost $10, more than I paid, but they have different styles.
They also have a section on eco-friendly tips from a guy called Josh Dorfman the “lazy environmentalist” though his creep picture sort of turns me off. I’m willing to check it out though.
When you take the pledge you have to tell them how many bottles you tend to use a day. They add your location and your bottles per year to a map where you can see how many bottles have been saved in your state. My home state of Nebraska has pledged to save 381,790. Not bad at all.
So each Monday when my husband and I go grocery shopping and I usually spent $5 on a pack of 24 Dasani water bottles, I will now pocket that $5 into a savings account. One bottle at $6.95, a second I will buy to keep handy at work in the fridge, another $6.95. That’s it. In one year I will save $260 – $13.90= $246.10 That’s a big savings!
