Water, Water, Everywhere!

Lately I've been on a bit of a kick to increase my food storage. I'm Mormon, and being self-reliant and "temporally prepared" is an important part of our religion. Well, I'm also getting into "going green" and I recently read something that inspired me to do both- for free! 

In the LDS family home storage pamphlet entitled, "All Is Safely Gathered In", it reads, "Store drinking water for circumstances in which the water supply may be polluted or disrupted. If water comes directly from a good, pretreated source then no additional purification is needed; otherwise, pretreat water before use. Store water in sturdy, leak-proof, breakage-resistant containers. Consider using plastic bottles commonly used for juices and soda." (read more here)

Well, it sounded like a great idea to me, especially since my husband recently made a connection with a guy who can get him his favorite sodas for really cheap, so he's drinking a lot of them! I just rinse out the bottle with warm soapy water and then refill it with clean water from the tap. And I now have a nice collection of water bottles sitting on my counter.  Now if only I had a place to store them...

It's funny though, whenever I do things like that, my motivation comes from this idea that someday I could be in the midst of a disaster emergency, where food and water will be scarce and the only thing that my family has to survive on is the items I have stored. I always wonder if that one extra item will be the difference between life or death. Wouldn't I just kick myself if it came right down to it and one of my precious little ones was wasting away from hunger or thirst and I just knew that had I filled one more water bottle, they would be okay? It really makes you think...

For others of you preparing for TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It), what are some ways that you have found to bulk up your storage without thinning out your bank account?