Money Saving Tips: Filtered Water...Not Bottled Water

How many of us buy the plastic bottles of water as opposed to use tap water or filtered water? We used to buy the bottled water consistently and just this year have switched to filtered water. There are many reasons to do this and our initial reason was to save money but after doing a little research I learned quite a bit about those little plastic bottles of water. Using filtered water not only saves you money but really helps the environment.
Let's start with the cost savings aspect as that was what first got us to switch to filtered water. We used to spend about $10 a month on bottled water. My husband took it to work and the kids liked to take theirs outside when they played or to sports games during the summer. So we averaged $120 a year on bottled water. Purchasing a filtered water pitcher, filters and stainless steel water bottles for each of us, cost approximately $110. We won't see our financial savings until next year but we no longer need to buy the plastic bottles of water. We filter our water with the filtered water pitcher and we each have a washable, re-usable, stainless steel water bottle for our water each day. The only thing you will need to purchase is the water pitcher filters periodically.
Now I want to talk about the environmental impact of plastic water bottles. They are recyclable but we still end up sending 2 million tons of plastic water bottles to land fills each year in this country. And the thing I found very surprising, is that it takes 1,000 years for one of these bottles to degrade in a land fill. Presently only about 13% of water bottles are being recycled. Even making these plastic bottles for the United States alone takes 1.5 million barrels of oil a year! That much energy could power 250,000 homes or fuel 100,000 cars for a year.
I am always looking for little ways to help save energy and am always on the hunt for ways to save money. Switching from bottled water to filtered water will save you money after just one year and if enough of us switch, we can make a significant environmental impact!
Below are links to the water pitcher and re-usable stainless bottles we use. The kids take their new stainless bottles of filtered water to soccer and outside to play and my husband uses his for work each day. These are great products that we have been happy with.