This post brought to you by Aladdin. All opinions are 100% mine.
Grandma and Grandpa's bathroom had a build in glazed toothbrush and cup holder build right into the wall. Once all the grandkids around, Grandma either got sick of washing the cup that sat there or said "Eww…" A stack of disposable cups was put in its place, and of course we didn't save our cups. We threw them away, and then 5 seconds later needed another drink. Oh, do you remember the cups that had Star Wars characters on them? We had to paw through the whole stack to drink out of the cup we wanted, thus cancelling out any sanitary benefits, and then perceived to use it until the liquid rendered the cup a floppy shred of laminated paper.
Interesting how that sanitary disposalness is no longer PC, and someone would probably have given Grandma an award for environmental consciousness for making us all use that one plastic bathroom-decor-coordinated cup. Let's not get into the crusty display of minty toothbrushes hanging on the wall. That could be explained by running the brush across the choppers exactly one pass to be ready to watch The Muppet Show.
Aladdin is throwing down the gauntlet and challenging us all, including Grandma, to the Do the Reuse Challenge. Can you commit for 30 days to not using a disposable coffee cup or juice bottle? To help out, they are giving challenge-takers a coupon to purchase a stainless steel, plastic or porcelain bottle, cup or mug (and we ALL know that we dare not call a mug a cup!). Aladdin, of course, was responsible for some of those Smurf or unicorn lunch boxes from back in the day.
Consider this: It costs about $165 per year to pack coffee from home rather than the $636 to buy it on the way to work. 50 million disposable water bottles are also used in America per year. That's a lot of bottles. My Favorite Guy and I use our juice bottles several times by refilling them with water, but not all of them are the plastic we would want to use, and they are hard to clean sometimes so it doesn't always work and someone might throw them out by accident.
What? You say, "Why can't I just use my nephew's sippy cup?" Well, that would look a little weird, but most of all, if its an older plastic item, it may contain bisephonal-A or BPA. All Aladdin stainless steel and some of their plastic products are BPA-free, so you can slurp with the satisfaction of not adding any additional contaminants to your cocktail. It may be small for one drink, but for small children or more acidic drinks, like orange juice or wine, I wouldn't want to chance it. Wine? Well, I guess for some people that floats their boat.
I am figuring out how to strap it to my belt loop without bruising myself or looking overtly silly, but I am sure that no matter what, it will give me the enviable look of a safari explorer rather than like one of those folks who wear the drinks on their hats and are just out for the attention.
To join me in being smart while not looking like a dope, and saving a few dollars as well, join the challenge at Do The Reuse Challenge on the web. Also, check out Aladdin on Facebook to commisserate and even snag additional deals and specials on Aladdin products.
