Money saving posts are always the same - stop doing this, stop buying that, stop having any fun and live a sad deprived life while watching the numbers in your bank account tick up and up. Of course, they don't frame it that way, but when someone asks you to give up something you love in the name of money, we get pretty defensive.
Instead of 'giving up' let's try something new. Hit the refresh button on your spending habits with this Budget Reboot Challenge.
This month's challenge: Replacing all your bad habits with a glass of water
Asking you to replace a bad habit with a glass of water sounds like a joke, and not a funny one at that. However there are plenty of things to consider, starting from the mundane to the obscure.
Did you try last months Budget Reboot Challenge: Fast Fashion?
Firstly you can replace expensive drinks with water. Sweet teas, fruit juices, soft drinks, and especially energy drinks add up to hundreds of dollars marching out of your wallet each year. However water (and I'm talking about water from the tap, not expensive bottled water) is just a few cents per kilolitre.
Replacing habits with water
If you are tired and need a pick me up it's easy to reach for a coffee, an energy drink or something sugary to try and spike your energy. But if you are dehydrated you'll only experience a small rush, followed by feeling even worse than before. If you are dehydrated a couple of glasses of water will be a better pick me up than an energy drink.More than replacing drinks with drinks, you can reduce other expensive unhealthy habits as well. If your dehydrated, your brain will send hunger signals. Rather than buying an expensive packet of chips from the vending machine, first have a glass of water.
To truly stretch this experiment - can water help you quit smoking? Maybe. If you're smoking is an excuse to walk away from your desk and go outside, consider swapping one cigarette a day for a glass of water. It may satisfy that need to step outside, to fidget with something, to have a break.
Reducing needs by drinking enough
There are other things that are indirectly connected to how well hydrated you are that are costing money on a daily basis.I have three different moisturizer tubs - one on my work desk, one in my bag, and one in the bathroom. Despite this I have been dealing with dry cracked hands for more than three months. The moisturizer is covering up the symptoms, but the cause is that I am dehydrated.
Just as I carry two lip balms around - instead, I could be carrying around a bottle of water.
Lastly, I very rarely take painkillers for headaches. For small pains I drink a glass of water and go on with my day. For bigger aches I have a couple of glasses and a nap. Only when the pain is bad enough that I can't nap I take painkillers. I only need to use painkillers once or twice a year - in most cases an extra glass of water solves the problem.
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Turn it off and on again: Bad Habits vs. Water
The point of the Budget Reboot Challenge isn't to force you to change your ways, but to commit to something for a set period and see what it's really like. Turn off snacking, smoking, your moisturizer reliance, and turn on water instead, and at the end of your commitment, ask yourself if you really need to add that habit back in again?How long can you replace a habit with a glass of water? One Week? One Month? One Year? How much can you save doing it?
I can commit to drinking two litres of water a day for a month!
At the end of that; well to be honest this is a habit I'll probably keep. I have been using a lot of moisturizer as my hands have been extremely dry and scaly. In the last week drinking two litres of water a day I've already noticed an improvement. I'm hoping that by simply drinking more water, I can stop moisturizing every day.
Whatever you're replacing with water, ask yourself at the end of the month:
Do I need my old habit?
Do I feel healthier?
Did I save money?
Budget Reboot September, how did you go?
Back in September I asked you to try buying less clothes, or even none! I committed to buying nothing, except for one costume. And I have to say, I failed. Wondering what I bought? What super exciting item was it that ruined my plans. What glitzy, glamour piece caught my eye? Nothing exciting, I bought socks... wheee!
Total cost of socks? $8 which I will wear until the holes are so big they don't stay on my feet.
Total cost of socks? $8 which I will wear until the holes are so big they don't stay on my feet.
I don't know why this hasn't become more of a habit for me, but it seems that I go through phases where I'm really good at drinking water, then suddenly I don't do it anymore. It then becomes something I have to force myself to do. I have used it as a distraction when I've wanted to eat something full of sugar. If I can convince myself to drink a glass of water first, then by the time that's gone I'm usually buried back in a task and not thinking about it. Sometimes I'll cheat and put a small amount of fruit juice in. It's still 80% water.
ReplyDeleteI also flip between being a guzzler and a desert. This weekend I wen't through 3-4 litres a day but I'm still feeling super dehydrated. Sports and alcohol will do that to yah ;)
DeleteI'm such a water guzzler! I always carry my glass refillable water bottle with me, I have one on my desk at work and an extra one in the car. I get thirsty a lot!
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm feeling super hungry I'll always start with a glass or water (or green tea because the warmth tricks me into feeling full). I highly recommend it :)
Mr FIRE and I collect plastic bottles. Whenever we get stuck and need to buy a bottle, we bring it home, fill it with filtered water and keep it in the fridge. We have a goodly supply going. I know glass is better but... I'm forgetful and I drop things
DeleteI can't stand drinking anything fizzy these days (except tonic water, and certain sparkling water), I can't deal with anything sugary and if I do end up with a flavoured drink, I add at least 50% more water into it to dilute it. My tastebuds have definitely changed in the last year or so as I went through my diet and worked on losing weight. Water is a constant and I have to say, I find it incredibly hard when I go to a country where table water isn't free.
ReplyDeleteI drink at least 2 litres a day, though I usually aim for 3. The downside is, I need the toilet a lot!
I've definitely given up on sweet fizzy drinks as an adult - unless they're alcoholic ;)
DeleteOh, I love this! I am always amazed at how much bottles of water cost - like the last time I needed some and was at an airport and was desperate it was $4.50 in a vending machine!!!! Years ago I read an article, I think in BRW. I wish I kept it. It talked about how water bottles were becoming an environmental disaster. And how water was being exported from countries such as Fiji while locals didn't even have access to clean and safe drinking water. Here in Canberra the drinking water from the tap is lovely. Just fabulous. Who needs fancy fruit flavoured carbonated crap when you have the best right here!
ReplyDeleteWater is CRAZY expensive. I forgot my bottle and had to buy one for a game this weekend, and it cost me $4 for 750ml! What a rip off! Better than passing out mid-game, but still
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