Water

I try my hardest to drink plenty of water. I know that it is important to keep the body hydrated. I prefer though to clean up my water. Where we live now, its not so important, but in some locations, you could really taste some of the minerals and such in the water.

I've always wanted a refrigerator with a filtered water dispenser, but I never liked the side-by-side refrigerators and couldn't justify buying one for the water filter. They didn't seem properly sized to hold things, like frozen pizzas or veggie trays. I've actually never even owned an ice maker - trays work just fine for me and take up less space in the freezer. But, if I had a refrigerator that had a dispenser, it would have both water and ice - crushed ice would be a treat.

Since we don't have a refrigerator that is hooked up to a water line, I have always relied on the faucet for our water. For a long time, we tried keeping a Brita pitcher in the refrigerator, but with its size we were forever filling it up. Then we bought one of the large Brita dispensers containers with a spigot on the front. It lasted longer between fillings, but when it was time to fill it up, it was a complete pain. Plus, anytime we had a stocked refrigerator, due to sales or an upcoming party, it took up too much space.

So, a while back, we made the investment in a faucet mount water filter. It works really well for us. It allows us the opportunity to have filtered water fresh from the faucet. Plus, we were able to find a Pur unit that was the same shiny finish as the faucet, so it blends in nicely.

Now, my husband, on the other hand, is picky about his water and has always claimed that that the tap water doesn't taste. In fact, for a long time, he was strictly a bottled water consumer. The only exception was when he would drink tap water at a restaurant (that was somehow different?).

For a long time, we regularly bought the small bottles of water. This was neither economical or environmentally sound. Plus, with the kids, bottled water isn't fluoridated, so I saw that as a definite draw back. The challenge was, if Daddy was drinking from a bottle, my son wanted to. To combat this, frequently, his bottle would be a refilled one, so that he was getting the benefit of fluoride from the water.

I will admit, the convenience of the bottled water was nice and I found myself using the bottles more than I would have expected. You could easily grab a bottle to go as you headed out the door. My husband liked the convenience, but he also said that it was a flavor thing - bottled water was better. I tried to show him that the bottle was filled from a city water supply, just not our city water.

Then, a few months ago, my husband discovered the bottled water machine at the grocery store. You use a refillable gallon jug and can get your bottled water for less. Of course, this lacked the convenience factor, but we went out and bought water bottles that we could use over and over again. For the kids, we got the juice box size containers with straws. My husband got a larger bottle.

Then one week he told me, you don't need to fill those at the store anymore, I refill them from the faucet. This took me by surprise, he had been bottled water consumers for a while. Then, I thought back, when we had the filtered water jugs in the refrigerator, the pitcher or the dispenser, he drank it without a problem. It really was when we went to the faucet mount that he stopped. I think that in the end, the real challenge wasn't the tap water, it was the temperature of the water. He liked his water really cold and direct from the tap wasn't cutting it.

Now, we are saving money and being more environmentally friendly, drinking our tap water and storing one gallon of water in the refrigerator at a time. We don't fill it as often as we used to fill the pitcher, because I am fine with water direct from the tap. Turns out the combination of a faucet mounted filter and a reusable gallon jug is what works for us when it comes to water.

Want to see more tips and tricks that work for others? Check out Works for Me Wednesday over at We Are THAT Family.