You know by now that water is really important for health, right? Of course, you need to make sure that it's filtered water, but the common thought on drinking water is that you should be drinking 8 glasses of water a day.
Remember my post on the Top 5 Tips for Healthy Eating? There was drinking clean water - right at the top. Note that I said "clean water."
Didn't know that tap water is full of a lot of stuff that I am sure you'd rather not be putting in your body? Well, this post is not for the timid, but check out Is Your Water Safe?
I try to keep myself and my family hydrated, but we quickly end up with glasses all over the place. And my kitchen is already cluttered enough without extra glasses all over the place (anyone else identifies with this? Please tell me I'm not the only one :-)). And in these super busy and financially tight times, who needs to spend extra time and money washing extra glasses because someone says, "I can't remember which glass was mine!"
And if you don't have a family, then when you have guests over, you can quickly have the same problem, right (and who wants to make a mistake of drinking out of the wrong glass during the flu season :-()?
Well, I have a simple DIY idea for you that will help you keep track of whose glass is whose and help you reduce clutter in the kitchen.
Think of this as DIY water glass "charms". While they're not as cute, they get the job done!
This tip gets credited to my one and one-half day helper. Due to my long struggle with adrenal fatigue / fibromyalgia symptoms, things have really piled up around the house here, so I've been getting some help weekly while I get caught up. And frankly, it's been helping me pay some attention to my blog that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise while juggling homeschooling, our whole foods lifestyle, and my special needs son.
Typically, my "helper" brings her own water bottle over, but one day we were sampling homemade sugar-free lemonade (you really need to check out that recipe!). We were trying to keep glasses straight and she said, "How about this idea?"
Just put a rubber band around each glass, with a different color for each person!
Well, I posted my little idea on Twitter in response to a blogger who said she couldn't keep glasses straight in her home either.
Her response was, "I don't have enough rubber bands for all the people in my family!"
So here are some ways to adapt this to make it work, no matter how many people you have in your home.
Save all the rubber bands you get (washing them first) from produce, mail, etc. That way, you end up with a lot of colors and thicknesses
Mix and match the bands so that some people are identified by combinations (e.g. oldest son's glass has a white and a blue band on it - youngest son's glass has two blue bands)
Use a Sharpie or other permanent marker to write initials on thicker rubber bands
Works well for me - and my youngest gets a kick out of having his own personalized glass ID band.
Maybe I need to patent this and start a new business :-).
Other Time and Money Saving Ideas Can Be Found here:
- Saving Time in the Kitchen with Measuring Tools
- 8 Great Time Saving Kitchen Tips
- The Easiest Way to Peel Garlic
How about you? Do you have a simple kitchen organization tip to share?
If you want to get some rubber bands, ask your mail carrier. Chances are they have extra rubber bands in their mail bag, because the mail is always banded out in loops that way. Just a suggestion.
Great tip!
HI Last year my daughter suggested everyone having a few mugs each. One goes in the cabinet and the other hangs from a cup hook screwed in the bottom of an upper cabinet. They are in order by age. Works well. Still have the issue with glasses. I would be afraid that the rubber bands would become weak, break, and get down in the dishwasher bottom or work their way into the mechanicals. Just a thought.
We remove the rubber bands when putting them in the dishwasher. We haven't had any break off when we've forgotten, but yes they do get weak. Thanks for reading!
Hi
That is a good idea identifying different glasses for different people but as a germ freak using rubber bands and leaving them on permanently seems very unhygienic. Think of all the germs lurking under the bands. Ugh.
Why not just buy each person a couple of their own particular shaped/coloured or patterned glasses? Keep the spares where no one else will use them and only get them out when a glass gets broken. Much cleaner and healthier in my view.
Hi there. We actually remove the bands when washing in the dishwasher, etc but good point. I think what you mention is a good idea but not as helpful when one person drinks more than the others--which happens here often. Anyhow thanks! Sorry this took so long to respond to---I was ill thru 9/19 and finally got better but had a lot of catching up to do!
Hello,
For those who don't have enough rubber bands around, your local office supply store should have them cheap, in varying quantities, but better yet by far, try Amazon. They have multi-colored rubber bands, even non-latex for those who are allergic, in varying sizes and wider widths too, for those who want to write on them, varying from small to large quantities, bagged, or in balls, from plain to all kinds of amazing colors, very inexpensively. From around only a couple dollars to an average of $4.00+, in amounts perfect for your needs. If you want to spend a little more, you can get them in the thousands. You can find in the same section, those wide bands that they use for bracelets and all kinds of interesting rubber bands crafts for those who want to get creative or give their kids some fun learning projects to do. Plus, most have free Prime shipping, or otherwise free shipping, and many arrive in just a couple days. Check it out. 🙂
For mugs, we each have our own color. Tea, cocoa, and coffee get left out half drank all the time in my house. We were doing lid and straw water cups in those same colors, but I bought cheap double walled cups and the would break if dropped on the tile. Rainbow plastic cups don't always help, the minions will grab whatever cup if I'm not looking. I'll have to try the rubber band/hair the trick so I can hunt down who isn't drinking their water around here!
I love this idea!
I buy a case of jelly canning glasses and these are my kids drinking glasses. I buy the next size up for grown ups.l but the band idea will work awesome with the small jelly jar glasses. Thanks so much! Now I can figure out who's glasses were left in the living room!
So glad! Time for accountability :).
We use hair bands. They come in many colors and patterns and look a little nicer. Pam is always purple, Holly pink, David blue, Peter green. I also use those same colors to color code school supplies and bathroom towels. It's like that person's signature color. Guest chose from the remaining colors in a bin in our silverware drawer. I also know who leaves glasses all over the house. Hmm. Pink banded cups everywhere! At dinnertime, "Go find your cup, kids!"
You are the Glasses All Over the House Spy Woman! (Hi, Pam!) Do you ever wash the bands in the laundry? Typically glasses don't get that dirty but sometimes....
Oh hi Adrienne! I totally forgot this was your blog. What fun. Hello friend!
Yes, when we run out of glasses, there is a call out to the guilty party to return some glasses to the kitchen.
Sometimes the bands get washed, but we try to avoid that, so they last longer. There is another certain someone who glass is always the dirtiest, so I keep the those cups rotating, so they get equal use from the whole family.
Hello right back at you! 🙂
This is what we do with all of those silly rubber bracelets our kids get and even my husband's company gives away to adults. They fit our glasses well.
Nice! Those bracelets become clutter otherwise easily, don't they?
Each person in our family has a cute coffee mug that is their personal water cup. So we always know that Julia has the one with Snoopy, Philip has the space shuttle, Mary Beth has owls, etc. If someone has a cute garage sale find and wants to change her mug - no problem! A quarter usually buys the fun change of pace and the old one gets donated. We hang them on a mug rack on the kitchen counter and run them through the dishwasher as needed.
Nice idea!!!!
I have a set of assorted color ponytail elastics (they look sort of like stretch rick-rack) that I keep in a small flowerpot on my counter. We choose a color and that one goes around our glass for the day. It's humid where I live, so they eventually get wet from condensation, but easily dry overnight.
Great idea. Thanks!
I love this. We have been doing this fore a while too so it was neat to see it in print. Our latest update is to use my kids rainbow loom bracelets….finally a use for those crafts that keep piling up!!
Nice idea!!!
Hi Adrienne,
First, I wanted to tell you that I have spent the past five days (part-time of course) reading your research about essential oils. You did a great job and you have way more patience with some of the jerks that left comments than I ever would! Wow, people can be so rude! But thankfully there were many nice people who thanked you so that was good.
The reason I chose this post to respond to is because it's the first one that I've read where you mentioned fibromyalgia. I was diagnosed almost 20 years ago with it and chronic fatigue syndrome. In fact, I am now on social security disability because of these problems. I plan to continue reading your blog, but if you could give me just a few ideas of things that have helped you, I would really appreciate it. Because of you, I am going to be ordering from your links to NAN.
Thanks so much for your hard work and take care!
Paula
Hi Paula. What a pleasure to hear from you.
I have done so much - perhaps read this post (and I would HIGHLY recommend the free cookbook that you can still get today). Have you had your thyroid checked? I can't medically advise, but I think thyroid disease is just rampant. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/thyroid-disease-hashimotos-blood-test/
Happy to help as much as I can.
For kitchen cups, with our large family, i have made small name stickers that i put on the edge of the counter, permanently. We all just use our glass and then put it in front of our name, use it for a couple of days even. Then I'm not keeping track of colors or rubber bands etc...
Nice idea! I bet making cute Sharpie mugs with names on them could work or do that with a glass. Thanks!