Eco-Friendly. At Least For A Day ...

So it started with the most dreaded household job (at least in the Top Ten for me). You know what it is. When you're in the shower/bathtub and you notice the water is taking it's own sweet time to exit via the drain. You just ignore it, hoping it will be better the next time.  But it isn't.  And then, one day when you're standing in a pool of water in the tub, and yet the drain is wide open but nothing is draining, you know it's time.  TO CLEAN OUT THE DRAIN!!!!

Yes, you must now take off whatever drain cover contraption you have.  I say contraption, because apparently I haven't cleaned out the drain since it was put in a year or so ago.  So, it was a little problematic to get the thing off.  It appeared that it would just screw off, but it would not cooperate with me.  So I left it for another couple of days until I decided it was D-Day and that it was going to come off - unscrewed or yanked off with my arsenal of tools not manufactured for the job.   Once I threatened the drain plug with this course of action, it cooperated and unscrewed.

Next comes the "picking out of the hair" portion.  For me, this involves tweezers.  For others, it involves a plumber snake (or something like it).  This procedure took a bit and was every bit as gross as you can imagine (or remember if you've undertaken this delight recently - if not just google "clogged bathtub drain" and be totally grossed out).  Anyhow, at this point I had a relatively clean-looking drain.

However, it was still taking too long to drain out the water.  So I surmised that there was deeper work to be done.  I had had my fill of drain hair grossness, so I was not going to go the "snake" route.  Instead, I decided to flush it out with some sort of "flusher-outer."  I was thinking Liquid Plummer or Drano or straight acid, but decided to go "natural" for once.  I looked online and discovered that baking soda and vinegar should do the trick. Of course, what do I have in my pantry?  Baking powder and apple cider vinegar. Luckily for everyone involved, I decided against using these close-but-no-cigar substitutes.

So, on my seemingly hourly Wal Mart run, I picked up the soda and vinegar.  I traveled back to my bathtub to begin proceedings.  Of course I did not bother to reread/remember/write down the exact measurements for how much to use.  I just filled up the drain with soda and poured vinegar down it.  It bubbled a bit and gurgled.  I poured more vinegar and it repeated the bubbling and gurgling and then VIOLA!!  It all went down the pipe nicely and when I started the hot water (I think I had read that you're supposed to end with that), it all went nicely and quickly down the drain.  And, as an added bonus, the drain collar and all that I could see looked really nice and sparkly.

So, for one day I have been eco-friendly.  I supposed I could have saved the hair balls and done something with those, but I didn't.  I can only eco so much!!

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Today was a great day because:  Everley sleepover last night; Steve and Everley getting donuts at KK; Molly helping with stockpile re-organization; Lindley and Everley time