Why We Have Cheap Rent

Last Wednesday I decided to give Ben a break from doing dishes (he nearly always does them because I don't like to and I usually cook dinner), and do them myself. Halfway through the pile, the sink just stopped draining. I knew that I hadn't rinsed down any food, but I tried plunging it to no avail. We bought some Drano and let it sit overnight. We came home from school Thursday afternoon and it was still plugged. I tried plunging it again, and only managed to make lots of little black flecks come up from the pipe, turning the water a murky gray. We called the plumber contracted to our apartment four-plex and he said because it was after 4 he couldn't come until the next day. What plumber only works till 4! Unfortunately, we don't get home from school until about 4:30, so he made a special arrangement to have someone be there at 4:30 on Friday. Well, that guy came and couldn't do anything. This is what our sink looked like after he was done.Apparently our plumbing is so old that the snake doesn't follow the pipes like it's supposed to and it couldn't get to the problem, which was just a general build of gunk from over the years (cause it's ancient). So now some of the gunk was in our sink instead of in our pipes, but it still didn't drain. And the guy that specialized in kitchen sinks (or something like that), was out of town for the weekend and couldn't come until Monday (when we'd be on Spring Break and be home). Buy now it had been quite a while since we had done dishes and we had nothing left to cook or eat with. So we got creative.


Here is Ben on his knees doing our dishes in our tub. The advantage of the tub over the sink is that it is; 1) Huge! Everything fits in it, 2) it has way better water pressure that our sink, which has notoriously terrible pressure, and 3) the water heats up really fast (our sink takes about 5 minutes to heat as opposed to the 5 seconds it takes in the tub). The disadvantage is that you have to kneel the whole time. This is just another example as to why Ben is the greatest husband.
Well, the extra-special plumber came on Monday, cut away part of the wall in our cupboard, cut up the pipe, cleaned it out, and installed and special piece that will make it easier to access if this happens again (assuming it will since our plumbing is practically antediluvian). But we figure we have cheapest rent of anyone we know and we are willing to put up with the minor inconveniences if it means we spend $200 less a month on rent. Plus, after this apartment, anything will seem bigger, nicer, and newer.