Make a Simple Water Intake Tracker

Yesterday on Facebook, Tami Jo Benson, Maker Faire’s “Minister of Information,” posted the above image of a “water intake tracker” that she’d cleverly cobbled together for her water bottle. I love simple projects like this that can really make a difference in altering some aspect of your behavior. There’s certainly a lot of debate about how much water one really needs in a day, but there’s no debate that we all need it. And there’s no debate that I am always drinking way too little of it. I need a piece of nagware like this.

You can pretty much figure out from the image what she did, but I asked if she’d share some additional photos and a description, which she kindly did. Thanks, Tami Jo!

Materials:

* Old bicycle tube, cleaned
* Paint pen
* Metal slide buckle
* Eyelet

Tools:

* Scissors
* Eyelet tool
* Hammer
* Small hole punch

Step 1:

Measure the circumference of your drinking vessel.

Step 2:

Cut a piece of bicycle tube with 1-2 inches of extra length. The width will depend on your metal slide.

Step 3:

Add markers to the tube. My goal is to drink 6-7 bottles a day. (Yes, I visit the bathroom often!)

Step 4:

Run the inner tube material through the metal slide.

Step 5:

Test out the tube around the bottle and mark the end of the overlap.

Step 6:

Punch a hole in the overlapping section of the tube. I used an extra small punch to fit my eyelets.

Step 7:

Attach the eyelet. Make sure you press the tube down against the front of the eyelet. It prevents bulging around the eyelet.

Voila!