We can hardly watch a sporting event, golf match or even a Hollywood red carpet event on television that we don't see others clutching bottled water ready to take a drink at a moment's notice.

Bottled water is definitely riding a wave of popularity as you watch mom's haul cases to their cars from the grocery stores and you see walkers holding them as they trek along. Perhap there is a stigma associated with bottled water, one being that only the wealthy drink it. I for one don't buy into that stigma.

Is bottled water a rip off?

In a short word, yes... bottled water is a rip off.

It's water...and it's in a bottle...and they charge nearly a dollar for even the smallest size. There are more and more water brands crowding the shelves than I can keep track of these days. There are many folks who only drink bottled water if they are out and about, away from home and feeling thirsty. Particularly people will reach for bottled water when exercising and there is not a water sources near by.

Bottled water is a marketer's dream!

The bottled water companies are in the business of selling water. They work to convince you that need bottled water, more particularly, you need their bottled water. But least we forget...it's water...the same thing that you can get out of the tap at the sink.

Is bottled water better for you than tap water?

Not hardly.

In fact, most bottled water is simply just tap water that has been put into a bottle with a fancy label slapped on it.

Bottled water is filtered and purified so in many cases it doesn't quite have the familiar taste of tap water. However, the cook news, is that, anything that will get you to drink more water can't be all bad. Drinking more water is great. Drinking water is a necessity since your body requires water to keep working, but drinking bottled water isn't necessary.

It is important to be a good consumer since some bottled water has additives. It is important to watch what you buy. Sometimes bottled water companies will add sugar or other flavorings to it. Remember, if it doesn't taste like pure water, then it probably isn't pure bottled water.

There's probably been an additive.

Sometimes the bottled water will come from a spring or even a mountain river. Is this any healthier for you? Not really. There might be some minerals in spring or mountain river bottled water that tap water doesn't have, but once again, it's water. It's just more expensive because it is in a bottle with a spring or mountain river label slapped on it.

If you like the taste of bottled water but you don't like the taste of your tap water what are you supposed to do?

For starters, you could follow my lead.

Don't run to the grocery store to get more bottled water look for a water filter instead. There are many products on the market today can filter your tap water to help it to taste better.

One of my favorites is the very simple, yet very effective water pitcher with the filter in it. I'm sure you have seen these on television before. These water pitchers are a cinch to use since all you need to do is fill up the pitcher with regular tap water and then When you pour the water, it goes through a filter resulting in yummy filtered water.

These filtering water pitchers tend to be less expensive and easier to use than consistently using more and more bottled water. It seriously doesn't take too much brain power to be able to fill a pitcher with water.

There are also filters that you can install over your faucet. These are so easy to use and it is very easy to replace the filters on the contraption. Water filters that install over your kitchen faucet are easily found at your local discount super center or even at the local hardware store.

Another easy fix worth trying is to use some of that money that you keep spending on bottled water and buy reusable plastic bottles that you can use to easily fill up with tap water. Once full, place the water bottles in the fridge to get them nice and cold. Many folks think that water taste differently when cold and so perhaps this is all you really needed after all. Your wallet will surely thank you if this trick works for you.

The primary problem with bottled water is the extreme cost of the stuff.

You can get it for free from the kitchen sink. Yet many people don't think one thing about going to the store and loading up on case after case of bottled water for the week.

Why is it that we are willing to pay the extreme cost for bottled water when we are living in debt or struggling from paycheck to paycheck? Why are we willing to pay for bottled water when there are so many both here in the United States and abroad that are going to bed each night hungry?

It really does seem crazy that we can sleep at night when we funnel so much cash into the bottled water companies when there are other things all around that should be so much higher on our priority list.

So think about it before you buy that next bottled water. Yes, water is essential to healthy living, the question just becomes do we really need to spend the money to actually buy water or could we be just as happy by going to the sink and taking a big drink!