Times of Extreme Frugality: When Civilization Goes Down the Drain

We mostly take the perks of living in the first world for granted. Things like running water and drains.

Kitchen drains.

It is a real eye-opener to discover how many times a day you use the kitchen sink drain: washing dishes, your hands, veggies, and in our case, draining the washing machine. 

Buckets are not usually involved when we do laundry.

Part of being frugal and prepared for the unexpected is planning ahead and purchasing used or reduced items before you need them. Since we moved in, we knew we wanted to replace the double kitchen sink with a single one, and the right side drain leaked, so we were only using one side. We could have been looking all of that time and bought one at auction or a private sale. But with the recent tightening of finances, it was put on the wait list.

Rookie mistake.

Last week, the left side drain developed it's own drip.

I'm pretty good with plumbing. In fact, we redid one bathroom years ago and did all of the plumbing, including the tub, ourselves. But I couldn't fix these leaks.

First of all, plumbing fixtures are not meant to be tightened by someone with very small hands; hands that don't even begin to reach around the drain fixture.

Second, I'm pretty sure the entire bottom of the drain is just plain rusted out.

So, we need a new sink. And since we use a lot of large pots, a high faucet is also called for.

I started haunting the online sales sights with little luck. Finally, I did win an Ebay auction for a faucet at a not too bad price.

No luck on the sink. 

By this time, the novelty of carrying buckets and dishpans to empty in the toilet has worn off, so I bit the bullet and ordered a sink from Home Depot. At least it was on sale and it should be a simple installation.


Most homeowners know this is the kind of thing that happens regularly and this is not even in the top ten of house repair expenses we've faced in the Silk Road house.


I'm just a little steamed at myself for not following my own advice and planning ahead. I guess some lessons you just have to learn and relearn and learn again.

Cookin' with Gas





The deal is done, Woodchuck Acres is sold. We got the check!

We have a loooooooooong to-do list waiting for this moment; at the very top are: get a woodstove and run propane lines.

Teapot standing in for yet-to-be-delivered wood stove.



We found some cheap, not too ugly ceramic tiles and I put down a base for the stove (my first attempt at tiling, not too difficult but hard on the lower back).

Then we made a foray into Louisville to the nearest store that sold Lopi wood stoves.

We had a Lopi in New York and were impressed with the ease of use AND it has a cooktop. That's two ways to save money! The store was busy and the first gent who waited on us didn't know if they carried Lopis--until I pointed out that he was leaning on one. He blushed and explained he was a repair guy filling in for sales staff. We eventually talked with the sales manager and agreed, not only on a stove, but a complete installation package. We're talking mucho dinero here but Tom and I were not thrilled with installing another chimney or trying to manhandle a heavy stove into the house, etc. Been there, done that.

Our Indiana house is taller than this with a steeper roof--I wouldn't be smiling if we did it ourselves here!



We have a few cords ("ricks" out here) from that dead elm but need more. In NY we bought from a wiry, elderly man who brought it in his dumptruck. I looked forward to his delivery and his wealth of stories and he only lived about 4 miles away. Here I called our nearest neighbor (the one who bushhogged our field and his bucket loader and tractor helped pull down a dead pine limb) for a reference and, lo and behold, he also sells firewood. So we can get it from a source 1/4 mile away--I love buying locally!

So, the wood stove is on it's way. Now on to the propane lines.

 I wanted a line for a kitchen stove, a water heater, and an outside valve for a propane generator. I had delusions of doing this myself--so what if I've never dealt with potentially deadly gas and couldn't figure out how to crawl the 20 feet that would need to be navigated on your stomach over and under heating ducts and water pipes and through a cement block wall? We briefly considered cutting a trap door in the floor of the kitchen so I could somehow snake pipe along and... In this case, the musician in the family was the realistic one and talked me out of this endeavor.

A plumber who knew what he was doing came and within 3 hours had all lines done and we were using our gas stove by that afternoon. Sometimes you've just got to admit your inadequacy and bring in a professional.

Two major things checked off! It's wonderful to have money--at least for a little while.

Plumbing the depths

Every house we have ever owned has had plumbing  problems.

I have replaced toilets and faucets, unplugged drains and repaired septic lines.

At Woodchuck Acres, with pvc in one hand and a library how-to book in the other, I replumbed the entire bathroom.

So it is safe to say I am not inexperienced with plumbing.

At Lick Skillet, the kitchen faucet drips. The bathroom faucet leaks out of several places. And the pump comes on every time you flush the toilet.

Fine, I thought. I can fix that.

First reality check. Both shut-off valves under the bathroom sink were corroded shut. After soaking them in Liquid Plumber, I got one to move and the handle broke off of the other. Not a good start.

In the kitchen, one valve is fine, the other is currently bathed in LP and still won’t move.

I was doing so well, I decided to investigate the pressure tank.

[Sidebar for those of you who have never had well water. Often there is both a well pump and a pressure tank. The pump comes on and fills the pressure tank which is half compressed air and half water. The tank holds the water for household use and reduces the times the pump needs to run—this is a good thing, helps the pump last longer.]

Our Indiana pressure tank is under the house in the crawl space*. I don’t have experience with crawl spaces. I could die happy never having delved into a crawl space. But a trip into our crawl space was staring me in the face.

I put on my big girl bravery, grabbed a flashlight, and with Tom voicing encouragement, wiggled into the crawl space.

Besides dirt, cobwebs, tin cans and bottles and other trash, there sat the pressure tank, another rusted out tank, and what looked suspiciously like the well pump—not in the ground where I would expect it to be. The pipes ran hither and yon and trying to figure out what goes where is beyond my plumbing smarts. Especially in a creepy place with no room to maneuver, no light to see by, and one female amateur plumber with a weak grip and inadequate colorful vocabulary.

So it’s house plumbing 3, Cindy 0.

*This is tornado country, why the heck don’t we have a basement? Most of the houses I viewed didn’t have a basement. I refuse to believe people seek refuge from a storm in a crawl space!