One Frugal Thing — My Water Bottle Saga
by Katy on May 15, 2025 · 50 comments
The loss of my Hydro Flask insulated water bottle was an inconvenient annoyance, (you can read about it HERE) but my experience has been that Goodwills are consistently crowded with used replacement options. This is the selection from the one Seattle Goodwill that my husband and I walked past yesterday.
Plastic, metal, ceramic, glass — every option was available! The central premise of reusable water bottles is so people can own just one or two without the need for excessive belongings. Yet they’re overmanufactured like any other consumer product.
Luckily, this brand new looking Hydro Flask bottle was available for the low price of $5.99 plus tax!
Here’s how much it’s listed for on the official Hydro Flask website:
I’ll give it a thorough sanitizing clean once I’m back home, but until then I deem this a win!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.
Like this post? Then please share it with your friends!
Like this:
Like Loading...
{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
Great score and replacement!! What is wrong with people? I always wonder why a perfectly good useable items ends up at GW.
Without whatever’s wrong with them, there wouldn’t be a nice newish thriftable.
When my in-laws passed away with in a few days of each other, many, many of their items were washed and donated because they had just so much of everything. And we have our own manageable inventory so I didn’t want to add to ours.
Good point! Of course there are often very valid reasons for donating. I’m constantly purging myself. I reacted so quickly because so often people buy multiples of stuff when in fact they hardly needed the original item no less duplicates. Thanks for reeling me in!
I totally get that! Sometimes I’m like HOW did someone let this gem go? But then I don’t want to have to make room for something else. I’m trying to get minimal but have some ways to go in areas like art supplies, dishes and book. I’m waiting for my husband to build our little free library so I am holding books to kick off the supplies to save some money.
Cathy in CT,
I know in my family, we end up with way more water bottles than we need……son decides his old one doesn’t keep water cold enough for his long band camp days in the hot sun (he did have a point), hubby wants this one for bike rides/the other one for walks/yet another one for when we go to high school football games, etc. Then you have the ever-changing “water bottle trends”, such as Hydro Flask, then Yeti, now Stanley….I personally don’t care about trends, but I will admit I was thrilled to get a yeti water bottle from my Buy Nothing group. I still like and use my HydroFlask, too. I have culled our water bottle collection multiple times, and have donated many of them.
There are so many because it’s a classic “corporate swag” item, and a classic “team gift” item. Between two corporate jobs and two kids in sports, we had SO MANY WATER BOTTLES that we didn’t even buy!
I’m not sure it is “greenwashing” as much as it is “the world is ruled by insurance companies and lawyers”. One person using a metal or heavy plastic water bottle as a weapon could end up as a ridiculous nightmare of lawsuits. I’m surprised the metal water bottles haven’t been banned by airlines, honestly.
I get all kinds of stupidly trendy water bottles in gift bags at the Hamptons parties I am invited to. I give every single one away to a thrift store. Am I the only one not interested in spending my life toting a heavy water bottle around? My kids couldn’t care less either.
Rose,
I will bring a big water bottle with me when I go out birding, which can last several hours, often in hot weather, and I might bring one with me if I’m out running errands – in which case, I leave it in the car. I am not interested in hauling around a water bottle 24/7.
I very much doubt that’s the reason. They won’t allow anything but single use clear plastic bottles because they don’t want fans bringing in their own alcohol. Then people wouldn’t buy $12 ballpark beers.
No. They literally can be used as weapons when full especially. Other people ruin it for us. Can you imagine a full one as a projectile? Most parks make you empty and fill them once in the park anyway so alcohol isn’t a concern. It is a real bummer though.
I say all the time — no need to overspend on the “latest and greatest” water bottle/reusable tumbler cup / travel mug…..because the thrift/dumpster/freebie gods WILL provide! And If you are patient enough, you will get the brand you want!
What am I , a Rockefeller?
I started to commiserate with you yesterday on the loss of the water bottle, but realized that you’d be able to score a replacement quickly and cheaply enough.
Also, I just cashed in $12.55 worth of mostly curb-picked NY State deposit containers at Wegmans today–and my guess is that two-thirds of these were single-use plastic water bottles. Although I’m making out like a bandit here, I deplore this situation.
Katy. We are both in Portland. You got a “new” water bottle at a Portland GW Tax??
You can absolutely bring in reusable water bottles to the Mariners stadium – just not metal or glass ones.
Can I bring in water?
Fans are permitted to bring in factory sealed bottles of water or empty plastic reusable bottle 32 ounce or less in size. Non-sealed water bottles, metal bottles, aluminum bottles, glass bottles, or any bottle larger than 32 ounces in size is prohibited.
Yup, exactly…empty plastic reusable bottles are totally fine as per the M’s website.. As someone else upthread said, avoiding heavy items that can be thrown at players (like a glass or metal bottle full of liquid) is a big reason for the rule.
Just catching up on yesterdays post. It’s like the universe conspired for you to trade your water bottle for a cheese tray! Score on finding an appropriate replacement so quickly!
Your Dollar Tree run reminded me that I stopped into our local Walgreens on my way home the other night. I was there to pick up another free 8×10 photo I had on hold and saw a long line of bright orange clearance tags down the candy isle. Some as low as $0.37 and $0.50. My kid was happy to score some dark chocolate and the rest will go into my nieces Welcome to Kindergarten gift basket! I left there with my photo and 6 full size candy/chocolate options for $4.28 OOP and got $1 back from Ibotta on some gummy worms. I was pretty pleased with my impromptu purchase.
Any time I find a used HydroFlask or Nalgene bottle at Goodwill, I pick it up and take it home. I sanitize them and then give them with gifts. Nobody- not once, not ever- has complained about being given one of these brand bottles as a gift!
Goodwill excels at drinkware. I bought a special edition tall Starbucks mug there for $2 because it was perfect for heating up soup. It sells for $22-plus online. Also bought an insulated wine tumbler for $2 that sells for $39 at our local hardware store,
Your lovely orange bottle will be easy to keep up with — love that cherry color.
*shakes fist at autocorrect* Cheery, not cherry!
Yay!! That’s one less water bottle being manufactured.
Good find on the used Hydro Flask. Love the orange.
I work at a concert venue and we don’t allow metal, reusable water bottles, either. The reason is that it could be used as a weapon. It would hurt if you hit someone in the face with it, or threw it at someone. I despise having to tell people to take them back to their cars, since I understand that they are reducing plastic waste, but this is the world we live in. You would be surprised what people throw, even their cell phones. It is crazy out there.
I think the crowd here will understand….my neighbor put out a four foot tall wood giraffe on garbage night. I had my son throw it in the car this morning….but by the time I got to work I didn’t want it. I put it on the free pile in the office kitchen and within half an hour it was gone. I don’t know who got it, but I’m glad it got a home and avoided the incinerator.
A neighbor is moving and posted items on the curb. She posted orchid planting material. I ran over and got four partially used bags plus a cookie extruder, which I’ve always wanted but never bought. I’m excited to have these things to enable my dream life of being an orchid lady and fancy cookie maker!!!
Yes, the cheap life is for me.
I’m a little surprised Katie that you weren’t able to get a free hydroflask through curb piles or your buy nothing group. But all the same, interesting blog material to see the glut of re-usable water bottles everywhere in photos. It reminds me of how people will buy something to replace something that already works in the name of the new product being more green. The entire time they neglect that they are getting rid of a perfectly usable product before it’s expiration date. Is there a term for this? I think there must be a more succinct term for this. Like, green-signal buying?
I have said for many years that the greenest option is to use what you have/buy nothing, NOT to get rid of something usable in favor of one made of bamboo or whatever.
But whatever…#capitalism.
My grandson’s preschool has each student bring their own water bottle each day. He already owned a thermos, which we still use, but I went to Goodwill and found a kid sized water bottle for $2.99 to rotate them out and as a “just in case” ( I was amazed at how many water bottles there were on the shelves . I’ll admit I had never looked for one as I’ve received my two as gifts.)We used them through the whole school year and it looks like we will continue using them for his school year next year.
I just wish the company I work for would stop giving me new coffee cups, water bottles and t shirt every year. I have way too many. Brand name and otherwise.
Horrendous tacky printed free T-shirts are something I wish somone would make a stand about. For the most part, they’re disposable garbage made by slave labor, and no, I do not want one for taking part in this event.
Cheap printed T shirts with random logos and horrible baseball caps make Americans look like yahoos to the rest of the world. My kids were banned from wearing baseball caps from a young age as they make anyone look 10 IQ points lower, and hilariously, a lot of my son’s old friends now agree with me. Yuck.
I carry a reusable straw, knife , fork and spoon, culled from odds and ends in my cutlery drawer.An acquaintance told me where I could buy a “ beautiful , environmentally conscious, bamboo set”( she knows I love beautiful things) Not sure she really understood my explanation that not making NEW things was the most environmentally conscious option! Buying new recycled options is also often not recognised as having a greater carbon cost than reusing what you have!
I use that logic on (not) buying a new car, as the cost for and impact of manufacturing an existing one is already “sunk”, I think the term is.
I cut the tshirts up into rags.
We went to a Mariner game on Mother’s Day and my husband took in his re-usable plastic 32 oz water bottle. I also saw a woman with a Stanley (the kind with the straw). I wonder if different gate attendants allow different types of bottles?
Good point! Of course there are often very valid reasons for donating. I’m constantly purging myself. I reacted so quickly because so often people buy multiples of stuff when in fact they hardly needed the original item no less duplicates. Thanks for reeling me in!
I am completely exhausted today! Please ignore all my posts and reposts!!
Never understood the attraction to those expensive Stanley cups. Even though I’m from down South, I always thought a Stanley Cup was a hockey trophy! Don’t have a clue as to why people pay $60 or more for the water/coffee variety of Stanley cup. I bought a similar-looking travel mug at Aldi for $5.99 and it works just fine.
Agree–I do not understand the allure at all.
I have been known to reuse liquor bottles with tight-sealing caps as water bottles. I used to tease my (adult) classes that I was drinking vodka, but it was just water.
I prefer an insulated and unbreakable bottle.
I also just learned that the “silicone boot” costs an extra $7.95
https://www.hydroflask.com/shop/accessories/bottle-boots?page=1
1. I brought a homemade iced latte, can of soup and some crackers to the office today instead of buying anything from the cafeteria.
2. Spent my commute home talking on the phone with my sister.
3. Watered my flower seedlings that are coming up in my pots and reused hanging baskets. I won’t need to water them tomorrow when it’s supposed to rain.
4. My daughter and I went to chilis for dinner and only ordered form the 3 for me menu. We took home the chips and salsa and got Togo cups with drink refills.
5. After dinner we streamed a movie using my brothers Hulu account.
Sorry, I had to Google what a hydro flask was.
I’m still using a Wal-Mart brand stainless cup from 10 years ago. Think it was 9.99
I also had to look up what a hydro flask is.
I use a stainless steel one that was a “gift” from my health insurance company, (I worry about cutting my mouth on the rim if someone bumps my arm when I am drinking), or an ancient plastic one from Walgreens that I wouldn’t care if it got lost.
Score on the new water bottle! I do the same with travel coffee mugs and can even focus on a brand I like because I find them so often in the thrifts.
1. Finished planting the veggie garden by using seeds I already have. It will be a hodge podge of produce this year, but I canned so much over the past two garden seasons that I am looking forward to the break.
2. I foraged ramps at my forest in the Adirondacks. I also found some Dryad’s saddle mushrooms (easy one to ID) at a new-to-dog & me park near our house. I made a delicious pasta dish with both and some asparagus I found on sale.
3. Still bringing coffee, water and lunch to work. I am on a salad kick at the moment as I would like to shed a few D0ge-stress pounds I put on this year before buying a dress. I am getting married in Vegas in August (second marriage for us both, so we are doing something kitchy just for us). I doubt it will be frugal, but we are going at a weird time of the year, and my partner already booked the hotel, flights, ceremony and so all I need is a dress. I will check thrift stores first (after I shed the pounds, haha!)
4. I received a class action check I had no idea I was part of, but I will cash it.
5. Posted a box full of stuff on Buy Nothing and everything was picked up. We also sold a bunch of crap at a big, seasonal flea market near us, including a saddle I am been lugging around for a dream that just never happened (and now I don’t want the cost and burden of a horse). I have new dreams now. I am really trying to declutter and prepare the house for selling next spring. I have big plans for purging stuff this weekend. We also took photos of a bunch of stuff we had in storage and partner listed them on eBay.
Hmm, I meant to just talk about the coffee mugs and went right into a 5FT list. 😀
” I have new dreams now”
OOOO, gonna borrow this gem, for sure! (and I might end up overusing it when I survey my domain… er, piles of projects)
1. Returned my plastic bags to the grocery store.
2. Bought all the yellow sticker items at the grocery store today. Saved 49%.
3. Using burlap craft bags for grocery produce.
4. Cut a bouquet for myself from the yard. Pretty tulips, Jupiter’s beard, and salvia. Used a thrifted crystal vase.
5. At the physical therapist today, they recommended a small rolling foam bar for me to lie on for stretching. I could spend 50 or more dollars on it but what I really need is a pool noodle. So I bought one for $1.25 at Dollar tree.
For me it is coffee cups – I have one style that I love, and unfortunately my (adult) children all seem to like that style best, too. so there are times when a ‘borrowed’ travel mug might take a few weeks/months/never to get back to me. I haven’t seen this style in the thrifts but frankly hadn’t thought to look (my favourite thrift really curates, so I gotta go to the ‘seedier’ ones where there will be shelves of bottles and travel mugs.
Thanks to everyone for the reasons/potential reasons for the metal bottle bans at stadiums. Still is annoying. I schlepped my metal water bottle around for my trip to Türkiye, but won’t bother in the future – we rarely got water in any form other than bottled, so my frugal/thrifty approach wasn’t necessary (I could just use one of the bottles they gave us if there was a source for fillups).
1. I brought a homemade iced latte, can of soup and some crackers to the office today instead of buying anything from the cafeteria.
2. Spent my commute home talking on the phone with my sister.
3. Watered my flower seedlings that are coming up in my pots and reused hanging baskets. I won’t need to water them tomorrow when it’s supposed to rain.
4. My daughter and I went to Chili’s for dinner and only ordered from the 3 for me menu. The waitress brought us drink refills but we were already down eating so we got Togo cups for those and brought home chips and salsa.
5. After dinner we streamed a movie using my brothers Hulu account.
I love that you’re saving on work lunches and being able to splurge a bit for dinner!
I was just in two thrift stores and the amount of water bottles on the shelf is crazy. DH and DD love their hydro flasks. I find them two big for my small hands. BUT I found a small one either in a free pike or a yard sale. I forget. But it’s the perfect size for me as I’m not a camel and don’t need to carry around a gallon of water at a time. (Joking in the size). Especially when most places I go I’m able to refill it if needed. As George Carlin used to say, “When did we get so thirsty?”
Having had a similar experience at a Mariners game last month (luckily we were only parked 2 blocks away so I was able to run back to the car) I was annoyed that they sold similar logo metal water bottles at the team store inside the ballpark. I also question their green initiatives with their game day free handouts of disposable quality swag. I always refuse but am still gifted and expected to prize so much of the junk from family who thinks my kids have to have more things .