My name’s James and I … I have a problem *sighs* it’s difficult for me to talk about this but I’m here to share so ….  yes I … I … *sighs*

I drink too much coke!

THERE … I’ve said it!

My wife too has an addiction to .. *sighs* Fizzy Water!!!

OK so the Coke addiction is bad especially with the sugar content. The Water addiction not so much (though I’m not sure if you know how much salt is in your sparkling water) but you know it’s the end of the world and all that, we really should be trying to limit our plastic use. Whether or not you’re recycling things … there’s the initial cost to the environment and then the recycling cost on the plastic .. not all can be recycled as well and a lot of the time you don’t know exactly where things are ending up.

Last week I came across a heavily discounted Soda Stream machine in my local SuperU … called the wife immediately .. we discuss important decisions in the family. Especially when we have to wonder where are we going to put it in the kitchen. BANG it was in my trolley.

So your basic SodaStream unit comes with a gas canister and a bottle. In general you need to use their bottles. It doesn’t need to be plugged in to the mains and it’s a snap (no pun intended) to put the gas canister or the bottle with water in to make it fizzy. Instructions are rather simple. Give three 2 second blasts with the button / gas for slightly fizzy water … 4 for more fizzy water. You get the idea right? It is taking us a bit to figure out the perfect mix for us but we’ve only had it a week.

So an important question is it cost effective?

Each canister will give you around 60 litres of water.

Checking my local SuperU a recharge canister costs €12.99 so lets just say 13 euro. (I assume that’s a return and replace fee … I need to go to the info desk to get them and haven’t just yet)

For my calculations water as it’s coming from the tap I’m taking as free.

So 1 litre of fizzy water if we do our calculations right is going to cost you in the region of 21.66 cents (Lets round and call it 22 cents)

Fizzy water depending on your preference is going to cost you anywhere from around 29 cents a bottle. (You’ll find cheaper you’ll find more expensive). I quite like La Salvelat as it has a lower salt content so that one works out at 39 cents a litre. At the higher end of the spectrum Perrier is at 58 cents a litre. Please note you may find cheaper … you may find more expensive … this is just using my local supermarket for reference.

So if you end up being able to replace cheap fizzy water? The saving isn’t so much 7 cents? If you end up being able to replace the more expensive bottles you could be saving 36cents a litre.

This of course doesn’t work in the initial cost of the machine.

The Soda Stream machine I’ve purchased is linked here on Amazon I’ve also included a rather nice nice red SodaStream link which is on discount.

At the time of posting the black one is showing up at around 90€ on Amazon. The red one at €59.99. If we factor in our savings per litre of water … when do we break even? We’ll remove the cost of the gas canister from the equation. so we need to see how long it would take to save around 77€ with our home made water.

If we’re talking a 7 cent saving per litre it’s going to take a while. We’d need to make 1100 litres of water. That’s quite a bit for one person. At the other end of the spectrum if we say you’re saying 36 cents per litre … 214 litres. I litre of water a week would be 52 litres in a year so it’d take you four years to break even. Lets face it though if you’re planning on buying one of these you probably make a bit more than that. We’re a family of 4 so that would easily be 5 litres a week. So it would take you a year give or take. ( Lots of factors come into play) (Using the red machine you’d need to make 672 litres if you currently buy cheap water or 131 litres if you buy more expensive )

Now I mentioned I’ve a coke addiction so is that cost effective? NOT so much. Especially if you’re buying the SodaStream brand cola flavouring. It works out at around €5 a bottle of syrup. It’ll give you about 10 litres of Cola. So it’s working out at 22 + 50 = 72 cents for a 1 litre bottle of Coke.

I actually want to give up the coke though. I’ve bought a store brand Mojito mix for 2€ which I’m finding lovely especially with the heat we’ve been having the last few days. I may try the store brand cola mix as well shortly.

A major factor in my purchase here really is stopping all the plastic  … Can I stop using 2 – 5 plastic bottles a week? Will I still buy coke in a bottle sure I suspect from time to time … BUT … so far so good and I’m quite happy with my purchase.

I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I like the sparkling water from the machine. Your local tap water will of course play a part in this. Should you buy one? I say yes I’d also say ask friends if they’ve got one and try it before you buy it.

Please note I’ve included affiliate links above but this post is not sponsored in any way. Have I made any errors in my calculations? Let me know or be nice and leave a comment if you appreciate the post 🙂