Inside my $800 bottled water habit

Kate Ashford  |  04:27 PM, Monday, April 19, 2010

When Shane Fischer lost his job at a large personal injury law firm three years ago, he took a bracing look at his finances. "I never had much in savings to begin with," says Shane, who lives in Ocoee, Fla., a suburb of Orlando. "I needed to find ways to save money." He started cooking more. He scrapped his plans for a new truck. And he remembered an article he'd read about the economic benefits of drinking tap water instead of bottled water. "I said, `What the heck, let's just try it,'" he says.

Shane had been drinking bottled water for years — buying it by the case, and even lugging large five-gallon jugs home. The local tap water just didn't taste right, he thought: "Florida water isn't known for its taste." It only cost him $5 a week for bottled, he says, but every cent counts when there's no money coming in. Today his water of choice comes courtesy of the City of Ocoee — straight from the tap, no filters, no pitchers. "I don't need any kind of filtration system," he says. "I have my small intestines."

After he lost his old job, Shane started his own practice and re-established a paycheck. But while he's back to frequently eating out, he's still drinking from the tap. He's saved about $800 on the venture so far, with no end in sight. Owning his own business, he says, has made him more cost-conscious, not less: "I can live without bottled water. It's not going to kill me."

Tell us: Who here is still drinking tap water? Why or why not?