It’s Time to Buy a Reusable Water Bottle

Yes it’s another week of “New Uses for Old Vices” from Real Simple. I can’t help myself they’re just too good. And we promise some of their GOOD ideas later in the week, as that’s the actual reason we promote the magazine so much! So this idea of using your old soda bottle to measure out pasta? Yeah, if you’re looking for clever ways to reuse old plastic water or soda bottles then it’s high time to invest in the metal or plastic reusable ones.

Okay, I get that if you’ve all of a sudden given up soda and haven’t managed to take out the recycling or trash because you’re hung over or freaked out because you’ve given up watching television, gambling and drinking during last week’s finding new uses for old vices, then maybe you could use the old plastic bottle to help you measure out a serving of pasta as you embark on your new carb addiction.

But seriously. Isn’t making an okay sign with your hand the easiest way to measure out a single serving of pasta? And if you’re the kind of person who is hoarding plastic bottles to find new uses for them then you probably have one of those plastic disks with four different sized holes that measures out pasta servings hiding in the bottom of your utility drawer. I don’t want to keep harping on Classic Freedoms (SFJs), Fun Freedoms (SFPs) and Organics (NFs), but these are the types who tend to feel most guilty for throwing anything away because surely, someone, somewhere can use it.

But we’ve got a whole recycling industry built around those plastic bottles, so the best new use for them is in a factory being melted down into a new plastic bottle. Sanitation workers — at least in New York City — are pretty well compensated, so let them do their jobs or come winter they’ll forget again that they’re also supposed to clean up the snow. And yes our garbage men DO clean up the snow (if the mayor’s in town.) It’s the funniest thing to see the garbage trucks with plows on them…20 years here and I still can’t get over it. Now that’s a Classic (SJ) AND Smart (NT) solution to a seasonal dilemma. Except of course for the crazy piles of garbage after a big snow. Then, of course, it’s okay to hoard those plastic bottles to get the right amount of pasta for your dinner.