How to (Properly) Clean Your Water Bottle

I'm trying to do better at drinking more water.

I've found that I drink more water (without consciously thinking about it) if I drink out of a straw or straw-type water bottle as opposed to out of a glass or open container. Not sure why, I just do.

I really don't like to reuse a water bottle more than a few times before I was it. Just doesn't seem clean to me.

So I swish some hot, soapy water around and run some through the straw and wipe around the mouthpiece.

Then the other day I was looking closely at my Camelbak water bottle, and this is what I saw:

You see that?!

Besides sparkly lip gloss smudged on the outside of the mouthpiece, there was "stuff" on the inside, too!

I started yanking on pieces so that I could thoroughly clean the mouthpiece area.

I never realized the mouthpiece came off; this could explain why it was accumulating/growing gunk.

So, fully disassemble your water bottle.

Besides using hot soapy water, you can also rinse with a vinegar wash.

You can use one part vinegar to one part water.

Please, do not use bleach on things you will eat off of. It's just not safe. Vinegar has the ability to kill bacteria, too! You can use vinegar to sanitize so. many. things.

Your humidifier.

Your floors.

Toys.

We also purchased a bottle brush to clean the insides of our water bottles. It came with a little end piece with an itty bitty brush on it.

Perfect for cleaning the mouthpiece!

Now you can thoroughly clean your water bottle!

Scrub gently with a brush.

Especially if you use a vinegar solution, make sure to 

Rinse well.

And of course, 

Allow pieces to FULLY air dry before re-assembling.

So now you know!