What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[Sally PB]

I live out in the country, and no way could I get by without owning a vehicle.

Same here. The nearest grocery store is about 12 miles away. There is no public transportation. When I lived in the city, I used the bus, rode my bike, and walked.

 

[Smokerbill]

Excellent point. I should have mentioned it. I keep all my supplies in the back of the SUV in one of those 27-gallon industrial totes that you can buy at Menards, Home Depot, etc... for less than $10.00 on sale...

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BTW, those industrial totes stack great in the garage, or you can make a rack for them. I organized a lot of things in my garage last year, putting them into those totes, and labeling the totes. I just have my totes stacked 3 or 4 high, but if you need to get the bottom one out, well you have to remove everything on top first. On my someday list is to make a rail rack storage system for the totes. Like this...

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If I do make one, I'll probably post it in the Show Me Your Pallet Projects! thread because I would be using pallet/reclaimed lumber for the project. Got to keep the costs down!

I like that rack idea, but unless I'm missing seeing it I'd say some diagonal bracing would make it much more stable. Maybe it's attached to the wall behind it for support.

 

[gtaus]

I like that rack idea, but unless I'm missing seeing it I'd say some diagonal bracing would make it much more stable. Maybe it's attached to the wall behind it for support.

There are a number of YouTube videos making these racks. Some of them are anchored into the wall, some on wheels, but I don't recall seeing any diagonal bracing on any of the designs. I suppose if the rack was not stable, you could easily add diagonal bracing anytime to tighten it up.

 

[saysfaa]

The next best alternative we'd thought of so far is to run a garden hose through the house to the toilet. Then plug the side jets, and the drain hole, around the end of the hose. And take the flapper off. Then turn the hose on up siphon jet.
...

Shop vac did not get it out.

But it no longer blocks the siphon hole and it didn't come back with a test flush....

Frugal tip - STOP soon enough.

I had so much fun working with dh to figure out how to try floating it out that I wanted to try that on Saturday even though it was sort of fixed. 4 flushes with no problems. I also didn't like it hanging there waiting to cause a problem. And I thought the worse case scenario was I would have to blow it back up to wherever it was. So we tried.

Ugh. Double ugh.

Floating didn't work. We could hear it bumping around in a space at the top back of the bowl. We tried slowly rising water first, then full force. It was knocked out of wherever it was and ended up back at the siphon hole. And I got surprised at one point and let go of the rag I used to block the side jets; it went down the drain. Hopefully, it will go all the way through the system.

I tried to blow it back up many times. I tried blowing it with the leaf blower while vacuuming with the shop vac.

And called a plumber.

I thought about the grabber thing but decided the odds of grabbing it were too low to justify trying that when I can't see it or the curved and branched path to get close to it. And dh's patience with this is completely used up. He wanted to call a plumber in the first place. Actually, he wanted to replace the toilet in the first place.

I expect the plumber might use something like the grabber with his experience to help. Or a shop vac or shop vac/hose pushing combination.

Even I am ready to be done with the issue.

 

[Molpet]

Frugal tip - STOP soon enough.

I had so much fun working with dh to figure out how to try floating it out that I wanted to try that on Saturday even though it was sort of fixed. 4 flushes with no problems. I also didn't like it hanging there waiting to cause a problem. And I thought the worse case scenario was I would have to blow it back up to wherever it was. So we tried.

Ugh. Double ugh.

Floating didn't work. We could hear it bumping around in a space at the top back of the bowl. We tried slowly rising water first, then full force. It was knocked out of wherever it was and ended up back at the siphon hole. And I got surprised at one point and let go of the rag I used to block the side jets; it went down the drain. Hopefully, it will go all the way through the system.

I tried to blow it back up many times. I tried blowing it with the leaf blower while vacuuming with the shop vac.

And called a plumber.

I thought about the grabber thing but decided the odds of grabbing it were too low to justify trying that when I can't see it or the curved and branched path to get close to it. And dh's patience with this is completely used up. He wanted to call a plumber in the first place. Actually, he wanted to replace the toilet in the first place.

I expect the plumber might use something like the grabber with his experience to help. Or a shop vac or shop vac/hose pushing combination.

Even I am ready to be done with the issue.

My elderly mom's system backed up. After getting the tank pumped, it had been 40 years so it needed it anyway, it was still plugged by a facecloth in the line between the house and the tank.

 

[Sally PB]

it had been 40 years so it needed it anyway,

40 years? Wow.

 

[Molpet]

40 years? Wow.

Always careful with what went down, well at least when mother could see.

 

[gtaus]

And called a plumber.

Sounds like you did all you could. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and make that call. Hope it's not too expensive of a service call.

He wanted to call a plumber in the first place. Actually, he wanted to replace the toilet in the first place.

Yeah, I don't know the value of your tornado flushing toilet. I just have the most basic flushing toilets, nothing fancy. In my case, it would be cheaper for me to replace a <$100.00 toilet myself than calling in the plumber with our service fees starting at around $200.00 just to show up at the door.

Anyways, hope it works out for you. I'm still interested in what the plumber had to do to fix the problem. Post the end results if you can.

 

[saysfaa]

No joy.

He has no service call fee, just minimum 1 hour, so $160 to see that the shop vac doesn't work blowing or vacuuming or both, flipping the toilet didn't work, snake won't fit, his light to see down pipes won't fit. He said he would try turning it more or my idea of trying to find it with a tube if I wanted but he didn't recommend it because he didn't think it would work. By that point, we couldn't hear it moving when he turned the toilet.

And he fixed the shut off valve so that at least works completely now. And he sent the snake down the drain to try for the rag but didn't find it.

So, the toilet is setting in the hallway now. I can try anything else I can think of while I wait for the new toilet. If I get it out before the new toilet comes, he'll reinstall this one and I'll cancel the new one.

Yes, thankfully, this house does have another bathroom.

A small silver lining, I now have confidence in who to call for plumbing issues. Finding who to call for what is probably my second least favorite thing about moving. Maybe third least favorite. Anyway, he did warn me when I called and when he arrived that they are rarely able to get objects out of the innards of toilets. He was prompt, competent, and all that.

 

[gtaus]

Anyway, he did warn me when I called and when he arrived that they are rarely able to get objects out of the innards of toilets.

I appreciate that type of honesty up front. Good for your plumber.

And dh's patience with this is completely used up. He wanted to call a plumber in the first place. Actually, he wanted to replace the toilet in the first place.

Point to DH on this one!

I'm not a big fan of fancy toilets. I'm pretty much a guy who looks for a strong flush, basic toilet, where things don't have a chance to get stuck inside the innards of the toilet. I don't even like the water saving flush toilets. Those can jam up too easily. But that's just my opinion.

May your new toilet flush away your troubles and never back up on your dreams.