Yeah I guess you have a pretty good point there on the 5gal jug, that’s a lot of weight! That probably should have clicked with me before I suggested it, sorry about that, I obviously took that for granted and meant no offense.

Mine has a spigot on it, but I bought that three years ago, and haven’t seen one since. Also, it leaks from time to time so I stand it up between uses, so that probably wouldn’t work for you.

I have seen 2.5 gal “cows,” like the ones you used to keep in fridges for milk. The recent ones have 1/4 turn paddle spigots, so if you could find one, that might work with your arthritis. But, that’s still 20# of water, so that may still be a limiting factor. I thought I’d mention it anyway because you said your son helps with the groceries, so maybe that’s a possibility, not sure.

Again sorry about any assumptions I made, I hope I didn’t cause any offense, and I’ll try to be more aware of that in the future. I guess that just goes to show how easy it is to take anything for granted if you don’t slow down and think about it, huh?

I wish you all well!

Cheers!

David

On the water, if you’re not refilling bottles already, a lot of grocery stores and general (WalMart, Target, etc) stores around here (Missouri, USA) have Reverse Osmosis water dispensers.

Those are supplied by Culligan and other water companies, but the big point is you bring your own bottle and they charge around $0.30-$0.40 per gallon to refill.

They sell bottles there as well, I have a 5gal one that I have had for about 3 years, and one refill lasts me for a while. I don’t have health concerns so I drink my well water, but I drink a LOT of coffee, and the lime in the well water keeps killing coffee pots!

Anyway, 5gal costs me $1.65, and I’m not burning through the bottles.

We switched to hankies a couple of years ago and I can’t believe how many fewer tissues we go through now. We also use cloth napkins that just get tossed in with the wash, rags for cleaning. And years ago I did my diapers on the line. I actually loved hanging diapers out to dry. Disposables diapers are a big expense that many parents could do without. I doubt anyone has every died from rinsing out a diaper.

As to water bottles, we are on a well. The water is fine for regular purposes, but due to poor health I can’t drink it, so we buy bottled. Good health wins over the bottle battle for wells that are suspect. But prior to moving out to the country and thus the well, we did filter our water and I filled up my water bottle and reused it many times. It usually got tossed when it became empty when we were out, rather than carry an empty bottle around.

Although clothes aren’t generally considered disposable, think about how much you do to prevent stains from ruining them. I wear a full apron when in the kitchen and have prevented many nasty slops on clothes. Hubby uses his clothes, while wearing, them for rags as he works, so I have learned to buy his work clothes at thrift stores and yard sales (other peoples cast offs) and before they are in total shreds when they finally are thrown out.