We moved into our current home about six months ago. The house is about 10 years old, and the last owners didn't really replace anything before they sold it. That means that small things are starting to show their wear around here- including our garbage disposal. Sometimes it works, sometimes it backs up a little, but generally everything goes down eventually.
My in-laws were here fro a visit and in an effort to clean out my fridge to make room for the groceries my mother-in-law and I bought, I threw a container of rice down the disposal... big mistake. Apparently, rice is a big culprit in clogging up garbage disposals! I didn't get too worried when the sink backed up, I just gave it a minute to drain. And then another minute. And then the dishwasher started getting backed up and I started getting worried! My father in law and husband started apprising the situation. "What did you put down here!?!?" was of course the first question.
Then, "Got a plunger?" my father-in-law asks. "Only the one that we use in our TOILET," came the reply. "That's fine, we can Clorox it."
UM NO! Now I am in the unenviable position of having to defend my kitchen sink from the TOILET plunger. Enter my mother-in-law, a.k.a. SUPER WOMAN. "Why don't you try vinegar and baking soda. I think I saw something about that on Oprah." Vinegar. Baking soda. No random poop particles in my sink. Perfect. In goes the baking soda- an old box that I have laying around. I'm not sure that it's going to work with all the water already sitting in the sink and drain, but it's better than the plunger option. In goes the apple cider vinegar, because that's what I've got. The sink starts bubbling... this is good... little more vinegar... the water starts draining! Crisis averted! Toilet plunger NOT required! Woo hoo!
Apparently, she saw some home cleaning expert on Oprah. Our drains are getting more and more clogged these days because of the liquid soaps that we use. They gunk up the pipes. So dump a little vinegar down all of your drains on a regular basis, and you'll be good. And keep the toilet plunger out of your kitchen!!!
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I do this whenever I'm making pasta. I pour in the Baking Soda down the sink followed by the vinegar. Then, when I drain the pasta, the boiling water flushes it all away.
ReplyDeleteHaha. I love your anti-plunger stand! We have a plunger that we use for sinks and one for toilets. The one for our sinks is white the toilet one is black (and in the garage) ewe. Great advice. i'll have to remember that. Baking soda is great for making a paste and cleaning the tub and tile with too! Use water for the paste.
ReplyDeleteWe did the baking soda and vinegar drain cleaner yesterday for our sluggish bathroom drain. Half a cup each of baking soda and vinegar, cover the drain and let it sit 5 minutes, and follow with a gallon of boiling water. It really cleared the sludge in the drain and it's got the added bonus of making the little trap sparkly clean!
ReplyDeleteMy little boy kept saying, "we're making a VOLCANO! It's an EXPERIMENT! It's a SINK VOLCANO!" The excitement rally was just too much! :)
If you have an "insinkerater" brand disposal, you can buy a little wrench thingy at home depot or some other hardware store for unclogging it, too. I recently had a problem with mine(due to some errant pork bones getting in there). Everything ground (no pun intended) to a halt. There is a little hole under the disposal and you put the wrench in there and just jiggle it back and forth until you can rotate it all the way around. FYI in case the vinegar/soda thing ever doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteHi. I was just surfing around some blogs, and I came across yours. It’s pretty nifty and I’m really enjoying my stay here. I’ve bookmarked your site for daily visits, and I hope you’ll visit me. I’d love to have you. :) Have a great day and I’ll see you around the blogosphere. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great tips ladies! HappyLittleHouse- I love that you turned it into a science experiment! I can't wait until my little guy is old enough to understand stuff like that. You are a mom after my own heart!
ReplyDeleteGreat tip! My garbage disposal is clogged even as we speak. I am going to go right home and try the vinegar and baking soda!
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