Drink Savings

Hi Tawra and Jill,
I appreciate your site and your INsight so
much... i wonder if you know just how much good
you're doing by sharing your ideas with everyone?
I read your tip on making your own tea instead
of buying the expensive ready-made stuff, and
wanted to share two things i do to save.
The first one is for something to drink while
i work out. I go to the gym four days a week, and
buying bottled water like i see so many others do
is a waste, to my mind. I have a re-usable bottle
into which i put good ol' cold tap water (we do
have very good water where i live, so i'm lucky
that way). I don't want it just plain, tho, so i
put in a few drops of lemon juice. I use
ReaLemon, and a bottle of that lasts a LONG time.
Since i only want to flavor the water a little, i
don't have to use any sugar.
I also see many people drinking the flavored
waters...berry, lemonade, etc. Those are also
frighteningly expensive when bought ready-made,
so here's the second thing i'll do. You can get
those little packets of powder to put in a single-
serving bottle if you don't want to get the ready-
to-drink, but those are pricey, too. So i bought
one box of the little packets (Crystal Light
lemonade flavor), opened one and measured the
amount of powder in it; it was 1/4 teaspoon. I'll
keep the other packets to take on car trips for
convenience's sake, but for everyday i bought a
large container of Crystal Light lemonade mix. I
put a smidge less than a 1/4th teaspoon in my
bottle of water (i don't like it strong)and i'm
good to go. And i do it on the cheap! I haven't
yet done the math to see how much the savings
are... i should do that, 'cause i know it's
tremendous.
Thanks for all your good ideas!
Grandma Kitty