Since I started working from home back in September of ‘07 I’ve noticed a couple things about myself. Since as early as I can remember in my work life I’ve kept a Nalgene bottle at my desk to quench urges of thirst throughout the day. I always used the water coolers where I work. When I started working from home it was no different.

In my apartment I’ve always had one of those unwieldy Brita 2 gallon filtered water dispensers. It took up at least 30% of prime shelf space in my fridge.

When I started working from home I was drinking at least 1 or 2 bottles/day and I would always be refilling the Brita (a pretty annoying endeavour). So one day I said “screw this”. I’d watched Good Morning America and they had a piece about how they did water test about the best tasting/healthy tap water in America. I think someplace in Washington or Idaho won, but Boston was mentioned in the top 5. I thought to myself why not drink straight tap water.

Tap water isn’t horrible but it’s definitely not Poland Springs either (I don’t even think the filtered Brita water particularly tasted much better), so I came up with a novel solution. I started mixing 1 liter of tap water with 1 Propel Powder packet to give it a little flavor. The propel packets contain 2g of sugar and 10 calories per packet and I enjoy it much more than plain water.

Then something strange happened. I stopped drinking other fluids. I just didn’t want anything else. It created virtually 0 dirty glasses which was a big win for me when you don’t have a dish washer. Aside from Propel I discovered a slew of other single serving powdered options. From Lipton White Tea To Go to Crystal Light Classic Orange On The Go packets, I hardly ever get bored drinking the powder. Since they’re single servings I keep extras in my car, laptop bag, and overnight bag.

But a man can’t live off of flavored water alone. I like having 100% juice with my breakfast and an occasional brew. For that my go to bottled beer is UFO, it’s produced by the Harpoon Brewery here in Boston. I’m a big fan of unfiltered wheat beers like UFO and Allagash White - best enjoyed as a draft at The Publick House.

What are your drinking habits? What do you think of mine? If you’re lazy and can’t be bothered with things such as drinking like me I bet you haven’t thought of it much. I think I’ve hit the perfect balance. It’s low maintenance, simple to implement, and leaves virtually no waste (except maybe foil packet wrappers). My Nalgene bottle will last quite a while, juicy juice bottles get recycled, and beer bottles get redeemed. Everyone wins!

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