Hot Tip #3: If you need to drink more water, buy a toy!

One of my on-going personal goals is to drink more water. I was tracking my water through a food diary a year ago and never managed to get the smiley that came with 64 oz of consumption. I’ve indulged myself in bottled water binges. I drank Smart Water for a while and still love it. I was the girl in college who bought a new Nalgene bottle everytime she came up with a cute color combination and some awesome stickers. I still have almost all of them (pack rat!!). My bf had a similar problem but decided dehydration was just how it was going to be. I figured toys always get me excited about things, why not try this on someone else. I offered to buy him a water consumption “toy”. We went to our local camping supply store and he selected the Camelbak Better Bottle. It’s spill proof so not only do you not drip water down the front of your shirt all the time (who me?) but you can literally just let the thing roll around in your car full. It sort of seems like you’re drinking an adult sippy cup, but after the initial embarrassment, you realize how awesome it is. I went and got one myself a few weeks after I bought one for the bf (who is no longer dehydrated). I convinced my friend to just suck it up and stop spilling her nalgene at work. Most recently, I convinced my water-hating bff to get a cute little 16 oz one for law school. Even she’s a convert. So if you need to drink more water, buy yourself a new water bottle that will excite you enough to use it a lot. Look into the Camelbak ones, they’re FABULOUS.

-Bean

Hot Tip #2: Add Sparkling Water to Your Fruit Juice

Hot tip: To Cut calories and still enjoy soda taste: Add juice to sparkling water.

I have a mild soda addiction. A few years ago I discovered Izze Soda which is fruit juice with sparkling water. It tastes fantastic, but to put it in perspective: they sell it at Starbuck’s. So one day, I decided I could take matters into my own hands. I added No Sugar Added (read: lower-cal) Cranberry Pomegranate juice which is a little bitter on its own to Raspberry Lime Sparkling Poland Spring. For some reason the Poland spring sparkling water is the only component that I refuse to change. I just don’t like “seltzer water”. My favorite thing about this hot tip is that it’s very customizable and cost friendly. Bottle of juice: $3, Bottle of water: $1. Name brand competition: $2/serving. I recommend picking a strongly flavored juice since you are effectively watering down your juice. Mix and enjoy!!

-Bean

Hot Tip #1: Cleaning your Crocs

Hot Tip: Clean your crocs w/ a magic eraser. It doesn’t hurt the plastic and makes them look as good as new!

Like most of you out there, I used to make fun of plastic shoes. How ridiculous looking, I thought. When I was in the market for good, boat-friendly shoes, I discovered that Crocs are slip resistant, non-marking and they float! These are 3 important features to boat friendly shoes. I opted for the standard clogs so that they wouldn’t fly off the back of my feet. Anyways, I quickly fell in love. They were super squishy and comfortable. As the summer became fall and fall became winter, my regimen of flip flops and crocs became less and less adequate. I then discovered Mammoth Crocs. Anyways, these are my favorite non-sexy shoes to date. They are ridic comfortable AND you can wear them barefoot like their summer counterparts. People look at me funny cuz I wear fuzzy light blue shoes. So anyways, during their hibernation this past summer, they fell under my basement stairs. Through some eyelash batting, I managed to convince my bf to dig them out. To his dismay, there was all kinds of crap on them, possibly caused by the spray painting that was done down there. So I took them up to the bathroom for a good magic eraser scrubbing and now they look FABULOUS. Another good example of why the Magic Eraser was one of the best things to ever happen to the cleaning supplies aisle.