Monday, December 28, 2009

29 December 2009

Blessed Childermas to all. To find out more about Childermas go to: http://hagiographies.blogspot.com/

The thought for today is in saving money. Many of us have dripping faucets or toilet valves that run all the time. These can cost us a lot of money. So, should you call the plumber? No definitely not. Most people can take care of most of the plumbing needs in their house. You will need to buy about $30.00 worth of tools, (tub and basin sockets, seat wrench, small stilsen wrench and maybe a crescent wrench) but you will have them forever as long as you put them up. Instructions on how to change the washers can be found on the internet, just type in your question, “How do I change the shower washers?” or kitchen sink washers or whatever. Once you have the tools in hand, the parts are cheap. It cost me about $3.00 in parts to change the washers on one shower today, much cheaper than calling the plumber. Toilet flapper valves are usually easy to change as well. Sometimes a new float is needed. Don’t be afraid to try it, and look for stuff that saves water.

While thinking of this, do you have fluorescent bulbs in the house, or the new energy saver bulbs. Please don’t throw them in the garbage. They have mercury in them and will contaminate the water supply. Take them, and any mercury batteries (and NiCad batteries for that matter) to the recycling center so as not to contaminate the water supply. Something else new out. Wallmart and several other stores now have trash bags made of starch. Right now they are twice as much, but if people buy them the price will go down. Use them especially for leaves, and the bags will biodegrade, allowing whatever is in them to biodegrade as well. This will help keep the landfills from filling up so much and will cut down some on our use of petroleum. We do need to save money and protect the environment.

One more quick way to save money in the bathroom. The hardware store has small screen drain plug filters, they come in a size good for the tub or wash basin and also for the sink. Put one in each tub, and you will never have your plumbing stopped up by hair. Also if you wash your hair in the kitchen sink you can put one there, and it will keep the hair out. They also make rubber ones which are good for shower applications.

Got a septic tank. Copper sulfide crystals will help keep roots out. RidX will keep your tank clean. Butter milk once a week will do the same trick (I am talking the old systems, not the new anaerobic ones.

An ounce of prevention in worth a pound of cure.






No comments:

Post a Comment