I have a lot of water bottles and my house is small and kitchen storage, especially, is at a premium. Currently, the bottles take up an entire shelf above the dishes. That's ok, except the shelf isn't tall enough to accommodate a tall bottle with its inverted lid, so the lids get put in a basket, creating the problem of mismatched bottles and lids. Color issue aside, mismatches create opportunity for dribbles at best, precious ounces of lost hydration opportunity at worst. You would think manufacturers would agree on a bottle/cap standard, but no. I have two kinds: like the lids you see in the picture above, and lids with a more rounded pattern. I prefer the latter and have more of the former, but I don't really care so long as I don't have to spend any time playing "try-and-match" when I'm in a hurry to get on the bike.
Also, I don't like all the bottles equally. I have a favorite few I use nearly daily, that I really don't want to lose. I also have a set that's ok -- they have good squeeze factor and whatnot, but if they should go missing, I wouldn't spend too much time mourning. These, I take to supported stage races. I've been fortunate enough so far to enjoy the company of teammates at many such races, but only once were we supported to the point of not having to pony up 8-10 bottles for the support vehicle and hand-up crew (Nature Valley Pro Ride Team). Every other time, each team member puts bottles in and tries to go home with the same number she arrived with, and if she's lucky, she'll get the ones she brought.
The final category of bottles are those I wouldn't mind losing. I loan these, let the boys use them, or put them to work as sauce dispensing containers in the kitchen.
Thus,
the problem is to categorize the bottles and sort the lids in a space efficient way such that everyone knows which bottles they're free to use and can easily get an appropriate lid.
Thanks to all the input yesterday, I believe I have
a solution meeting my requirements:
- Rectangular containers, like those used for flatware, for the lids. They will also serve to divide the bottles on the shelf.
- Some labels, so everyone knows which bottles they can use and which lids are compatible with those bottles.
I know. Sounds like over-analysis, but I'll tell you, it's the little, completely unnecessary, time stealing annoyances all through the day that put me on edge -- not big issues.
