how to get your family to drink more water

   Today I thought I would share a little tip that has worked so well in our family for several years now. Years ago, my kids would prefer juice, chocolate milk, soda, etc. over just plain old water. Water was boring. Water was blah. I decided I needed to make water drinking a bit more exciting so we could all be healthier. I thought getting cool water bottles was the answer, so I went shopping... To get water bottles for all 6 of us was going to be too expensive! And what if someone left theirs at school, or it accidentally got thrown away, or the lid got lost, etc. I didn't want to have to keep track of all those water bottles and wash and refill them every single night. I realized I could buy some sturdy, semi-disposable water bottles such as Smart Water, arrowhead, and Fiji, and just wash and re-use them a bunch of times before throwing them away. That way, we could have lots of cold water in the fridge, and if any got lost it was really not a big deal. I prefer bottles with flip top lids that stay attached over the screw on type. They are more fun to drink from, and the lids don't get lost as easily.  I prefer the smart water lids  - they are fairly sturdy, and they fit on most other bottles. I put smart water lids on Fiji bottles, since Fiji comes with screw on lids. For myself, I prefer a 1 liter Fiji bottle, since I try to drink 3 liters of water a day. That way I can keep track of how much I drink a day.
Here's how I manage whose water bottle is whose in the fridge:

I put all our names on those big rubber bands that come with broccoli or asparagus, and stretch them over each person's bottle. These are also no big deal if they get lost or thrown away, since they're free. If you use a Sharpie marker, then they' re also very washable.

The best way to write on them is to stretch them over an empty water bottle ( a full one is wet and the marker doesn't work well on a cold, wet, bottle) Then write the name, and pull it off and store them in a drawer or something. My kids never remember to put their names on their own bottle, but it's no biggie for me to label them. You can see that I'm almost done drinking my water for the day... ( pat myself on the back, pat,pat)
Now I can say with all honesty that my whole family are big water drinkers. Our fridge is not complete without a load of ice cold water bottles ready to grab and go.  Summer or winter, we all love drinking cold water!