“Hydration is the key to happiness.” – a quote from my friend, Adele

I have always been a big fan of water; I tend to choose water over sodas when we are out and at home. Nothing is better than a tall glass of ice cold water in my opinion. My husband, Chuck, on the other hand, is a big fan of Coca-Cola and iced tea.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I saw on Twitter that he had accepted the NoFizzUSA Challenge to hydrate with water and avoid soda. I clicked on the link and checked out the site. Both of us have been trying to take small steps to get healthier and I thought this would be a good one for us both, so I quickly jumped on board as well.

Between my date of commitment and the start of the 60 at 60 challenge, I started paying more attention to my beverage consumption, and realized I was not taking in enough water and a lot more soda than I should. As the start date of September 1st grew closer, I kept trying to come up with ways to help Chuck and I stay on task and be accountable to our goals. I decided a reward system would be a fun way to keep us motivated. At first I thought putting aside $1 per ounce of water, then realized there was NO WAY we could afford that, so I whittled it down to $.01 per ounce.

I did the math and realized that this would result in about $72 at the end of the challenge – if we hit the 60 ounce mark daily. We knew that $72 is not a huge amount, but would make for a nice dinner on the town at the end of the challenge. One of my favorite restaurants is The Melting Pot, but it’s outside our price range and only a rare treat. I quickly decided that the money we put away during this challenge would be put towards a dinner at The Melting Pot.

On September 1st I took a cardboard penny bank we had laying around the house and fixed it up as our 60 in 60 challenge bank. Since then we put in our daily water intake money and log the amount on the bank. Since starting, we have already put aside over $12!

That’s not to say that $12 has been easy to accumulate. Chuck and I both struggle daily to make sure we are getting our 60 or more ounces down. He comments often how badly he has to fight the urge to grab a soda. But, the struggle is getting easier and I hope by October 31 we will be drinking 60+ ounces a day like it’s no big deal while enjoying our delicious dinner at The Melting Pot!