If you’re looking to save money on alcohol, kindly move on and read no more. If you’re looking to save up to £5/week on drinking water and fizz, this could be of interest to you.
This is a collection my tips for saving on soft-drinks (including water) at meals. At the outset see how £1 can buy 1000L of tap water or a bottle of your ‘bottled-water’. Am I interested in your spending on drink? No! Am I forcing you to drink water? No. Am I telling you that you shouldn’t spend on bottled water? NO! You can continue to do as you please. The guys and gals who sell you the stuff love you… I mean they love your money.. perhaps a bit more than you love your own.
Right! A 500ml bottle of Coke (aka Coca Cola) costs on average about £1 – at the supermarket. A 500ml bottle of water at many supermarkets could be as low as 40p if bought as a single bottle. Bottled water and fizzy drinks could easily be doubled in price outside of supermarkets. So there’s one tip already – if you have to buy this stuff buy it in a supermarket in bulk.
I’ll start more specifically with water. Caveman did not have many options about water. You do. It might have been a river or licking leaves for Caveman. You however are spoilt for choice. You can make faces and go “Urrrrghhhh.. I don’t like the taste of water…urrghhh water makes me heave…blah blah blah.” The next tip is to unspoil yourself buy travelling to the Sahara desert, getting lost with a flask of 1L of tap water. I’m guaranteeing you that you’ll learn to love the taste of tap water! There is nothing wrong with most tap water in first world countries. You don’t die from drinking it in normal quantities. Studies have shown that the majority of people cannot distinguish between filtered water, off the shelf bottled water, and plain tap water. I’ll let you in on a secret. I’m with the guys who sell bottled water. And I’m not bothered at all that what I say will affect sales!! Think about it.
Next I moved to flavoured fizzy drinks. That’s like your Coca Cola, Sprite, Tango etc etc. Now get this. A 500ml bottle will cost around £1 but a 2L bottle will probably cost just under £2. Huh? Think! I know you’re always in a mad rush. Well, me too. However, it only takes me 20 seconds to pour 500ml from a large 2L bottle into a 500ml smaller bottle that I wash and reuse. I’m such a miser – I heard you think it!! Well hang on. You see I don’t like the idea of spending up to £6 a week on 1.5L of fizzy drink. What do I do? I buy the best brand of 2L caffeine free coke (much healthier – look you flog your heart and nervous system with caffeine. It’s your body after all). That costs me about 60p and lasts me a week. Look, I like 60p/week compared to £6 /week for a time impact of 1 min per week. Oh I tend to buy like ten 2L bottles in one go.. so I minimise time impact in supermarket queues and commutes etc.
Now for tap water. I’ve refused to dine at any public food outlet where tap water is not served or served for free. On occasion don’t carry fizzy drinks to work i.e. my re-bottled fizz. Instead I’d drink tap water!!! And get this – I’ve been doing it for years here in the UK. I’ve never suffered any ill-health for doing so.
Well, if you live in an oil-rich banana republic somewhere; one with three desalination plants and floods covering major parts of the country every year – and there is a poor water supply with questionable water quality, I’m deeply sorry for you. Well no I’m not actually deeply sorry for you. Just sorry – not deeply I mean.
Okaayyyy.. so you’ve read it.. got this far – but you won’t change your ways. Guess what – don’t! I need my shares in the bottled-water and fizzy drinks companies to remain as good as they are! Thank you very much! 