Over the years, we’ve been getting better information about the necessity of hydration, and along with that comes a rise in bottled water products of all shapes, sizes, and environmental impact. (And intensity, as demonstrated by the current Stanley cup craze.)

I’m not a fan of single-use plastics whenever I can avoid them, and my house has reasonably tolerable drinking water, so my solution to hydrating properly is to keep a filtered pitcher in the fridge, and refill an insulated reusable water bottle throughout the day. I also use the filtered water to fill the electric kettle and boil water for my tea, which I pour into a leak-proof, insulated travel mug (originally because Trixie did her best to knock them over whenever she could, now I’m just spoiled by the leak-proof container.)

This weekend I was doing some re-organizing in the kitchen and realized that my collection of water bottles and tea mugs had gotten slightly out of hand, and a number of them were sitting unused taking up much-needed space in the cabinet.

The first order of business was to pull them ALL out, stack them up on the counter, and evaluate their functionality:

(You may notice a slight preference towards a certain color. . .)

Then I did the same with my tea mugs:

After making a conscious effort to evaluate the different styles of water bottle, and which ones I was likely to actually use, I pared the collection down considerably.

While I like the wide spout on the Takeya water bottle lids, so much so that I used some to replace the Hydroflask lids, in day to day use they’re actually quite annoying because they are hard to clean and have a tendency to get water in the cap threads and then leak when drinking. My preference is the Owala bottle with the flip cap spout, however it does not fit well into my car cup holder, and is large and bulky which makes it a challenge to carry in a backpack.

Thus, my final solution was:

  • donate all but two of the 24oz Takeya bottles. I expect to use those in the car, where they fit nicely in the cup holder and won’t see enough use to leak annoyingly
  • keep the two 20oz Hydroflask bottles, and put a spare silicone boot on one. These bottles are a little bit smaller and lighter so they are good choices for carrying in a backpack or other bag.
  • keep the 16oz lidded cup. I don’t use it often, but when I do, it’s because having a closed cup with a straw is more functional than a water bottle. (Such as on the rare occasion I drink soda.)
  • keep the Owala water bottle, and order a second one. This will be my daily water bottle, and I have learned that I need to be able to rotate them so that one can sit waiting to be washed for a couple of cycles.
  • reduce the tea mugs to just four. Three of the current collection will be donated, and another will be replaced because it is old, dented, and no longer keeps tea warm. I may reduce this to three after I see how the usage is for a while, but I know with my dishwashing cycle three is the minimum number so that I can use a clean one daily and sometimes one is still waiting to be washed.

Once everything was donated, ordered, washed, and sorted, it all fits neatly into a single organizer bin that tucks into a corner of the pantry cabinet.