Grocery Budget Killers and Ways to Avoid Them Part III

Part III – Skip the Pop and the Bottled WaterI love Dr. Pepper. I mean I L.O.V.E. it! Every time we’d come back from Thailand for a break (we lived there for 3 years) I’d run through the nearest drive thru as fountain pop is far superior. In fact if it had no budget/health consequences it would be my beverage of choice and yet I try and restrict myself because it’s a budget killer.A good deal on pop is a 24-pack for $4 but even then if you’re like us, if it’s in the house we drink it. If not, we reach for water first. So I purposely avoid buying it in at that way we consume way less. If I really want one I am tempted to grab one from a vending machine but then I remember the cost. if you buy a soda every day from a vending machine at $1 a time, every year that’s $365!

If we’re supposed to drink 8 glasses of water/day, why not reach for the H2O before the soda? The last thing most kids need (and to preserve your sanity!!!) is sugar and caffeine.

The health impact is big too. You need to walk for 20 minutes a day to burn off just 1 soda!!!

Another budget killer is bottled water. If you live in an area that only has bottled water then you may find yourself buying more bottled water but I know for us it’s one thing we don’t buy because of the environment. Another reason is I really don’t like the taste so we opted to buy some water bottles and instead I refill those.

Bottled water is big business right now with a lot more people on the health-conscious bandwagon. Estimates variously place worldwide bottled water sales at between $50 and $100 billion each year, with the market expanding at the startling annual rate of 7 percent!!!! Honestly, whichever way you slice it, it’s still just water and again, you’re paying someone for something you can do yourself!

We have a water pitcher that we use. We simply add tap water and store it in the fridge. It needs filter every 3 months but they don’t cost a lot so it’s worth it.