Drink More Water!

That's exactly what my doctor says every time I see him.  I'll admit, I'm terrible at drinking water.  Mostly because the city water in this town tastes AWFUL.  I used to drink coffee in the mornings, and diet coke in the afternoon/evening, but coffee turns to acid in my stomach anymore so I drink a cup of tea in the morning and 2-3 diet cokes a day.

My goal is to eliminate the soda entirely.  I know, crazy talk!  I've started to dislike it, as much as I enjoy the taste and kick of caffeine.  It's kind of like my acrylic nails....I wore them for 15 years, and steadily grew to loathe them - they were expensive, had to be maintained, and looked down upon by quite a few people.  Soda is the same concept - it's expensive, has to be maintained (to avoid caffeine withdrawals), and looked down upon by quite a few people.  Most importantly, looked down upon by my doctor.

I've tried four different filter pitchers (PUR, Brita, Zerowater and Mavea), and two on-faucet filters.  The pitchers are a pain to keep up (the filtering action takes forever to trickle through), and the on-faucet filters are clunky.  I hate buying single-serve bottles because they take up so much space, and the plastic waste is ridiculous.  So, after some research, I decided to set up an account with Sierra Springs.  For an initial $50 fee, I received a dispenser/stand that has a 160-190 degree hot water tap, a below 50 degree cold water tap, 4 5-gallon bottles of purified water, and a 24-pack of bottled water.  My monthly fee will be $23.99, which includes rental of the dispenser and 4 5-gallon bottles of water per month.

I was so excited to receive the setup that I agreed to an 8:30 am delivery time!  I stumbled out of bed at about 8:15 and dazedly wandered around the kitchen, rearranging things so we had a space for the water dispenser. He was right on time, and had everything set up in about 10 minutes.  Here's how it looks:

You can see two of the reserve bottles with their Susan G. Koman pink caps.  The dispenser takes up hardly any room, and the cold side gets cold super-fast - within 20 minutes I had a refreshingly cold glass of water!  I burned my finger testing the hot side - they are not kidding about 160-190 degrees.

My mindset is this - I have to drink more water.  A LOT more water.  Having it readily available and ice-cold makes it convenient to pick up a glass here and there.  I was spending a good deal of money on single-serve bottled water before, so I feel the price is justified - and I feel less guilty about the environmental waste.

If you're considering bottled water home delivery, I highly suggest it!  I wish I had signed up for it years ago.