This post is part of a series on my low waste living experiments. My hope is to inspire you to take a step (not a plunge) towards a life that is tinted green by sharing which changes I've incorporated into my life.

- - -

I feel about plastic water bottles the way Taylor Swift feels about her and whomever getting back together. It’s never, ever happening.

Like, ever.

I'd always excused my consumption of plastic bottles because I diligently put them in the recycling bin before I made the decision to stop using plastic water bottles in 2011. Studying abroad in Costa Rica changed a few things. For one, I was on a very limited budget. With so many ways to refill a water bottle at school or while traveling, I didn’t see the point in spending money on water. At home, I could hold a job to help offset my costs of living. I couldn’t do that in Costa Rica.

The other reason I quit buying and drinking bottled water was because of a documentary on bottled water called Flow.

I know, I know! It sounds totally cliché that a documentary would affect me that much, but it did. It completely changed my opinion on the industry.

The gist of the documentary: bottled water is hella corrupt. Companies are scooping up natural sources of clean water all around the world or filtering tap water and bottling it. Either way, they're selling it back to us at a crazy mark up. Either way, it sucks.

But it also takes more water to make a bottle than it does to fill it and most of the bottles people use end up in the landfill and not the recycling center.

Access to clean water is critical to life, education, food security (and so much more) and the demand for bottled water just feeds a scam that sucks up our natural resources for the sake of profit.

Even if none of that strikes a cord with you, consider the recurring cost of purchasing case after case (or bottle after bottle) of water. It might just make it an easier habit to let go of.

I bought my first S'well bottle in the summer of 2015 while Brandon and I were in Squaw Valley with family. I've been obsessed ever since. It’s insulated so it keeps my water cold for a day and it doesn’t sweat. Also it looks cool and people ask me about it all the time. I love this bottle so much I bought one for practically everyone I know.

Seriously.

My aim is not to convince you to choose the same brand I did but simply to choose a reusable bottle instead of continually buying plastic ones. Sure, you might drop 30 or so bucks for a bottle now, but you’ll save money in the long run while doing the earth and the people relying on their local water sources a favor.