I didn't realize how often you're supposed to wash your water bottle and I'm a little embarrassed about it
Okay so I've been using the same reusable water bottle every day for probably two years. One of those wide mouth ones with a straw lid. I'd rinse it out most evenings, sometimes just refill it in the morning without rinsing, and I thought that was fine because it's just water, right, nothing sugary or milky going in.
Then about three weeks ago I noticed a faint smell when I opened the lid. Not strong, just sort of stale and slightly off. I figured it was the lid so I took the whole thing apart and the straw had this dark ring inside it that I could see if I held it up to the light. Not mold exactly, or maybe it was, I genuinely don't know. The gasket around the lid had a similar thing going on. I had been drinking out of this every single day.\
Looked it up and apparently water bottles need to be fully washed with soap every single day, and the straw and gasket and lid need to come apart and get cleaned separately. I had done this maybe four times total in two years. I thought a quick rinse was the same as washing. It is very much not the same as washing.
I bought a bottle brush set, now I take the whole thing apart every night and actually scrub everything. Takes maybe four extra minutes. The smell is completely gone and I don't know why it took me this long to sort out something so basic, I shower every day, I'm not a person who ignores hygiene, I just genuinely had a blind spot about this specific thing for an embarrassingly long time