We had two leaky toilets. One was the guest bathroom. You could walk down the hall and hear the slow trickle of water escaping the tank. The other was our master bathroom – same incessant drizzle.
I am humbly proud to tell you that I fixed hem both yesterday. And it had only taken me a few days weeks months to do the job. Seriously, I don’t know how long I let this go before I finally relented and took care of the problem.
It isn’t that it is complicated. All you do is pull out the old flapper, and put a new one in. If any part of the process could be remotely described as difficult, it would be getting the length of the chain right. All in all, the entire process took maybe 3 minutes per toilet. Yes, I invested 6 minutes stopping two leaks to help save the planet. I should get a medal. You can get one of them Nobel Peace Prizes for doing much less.
What took me so long?
Maybe it was the cost. Those flappers are more expensive than they used to be. I spent almost $12 on a three-pack. That works out to $4 each. Factor in the gas to et to the store, and we are talking a $15 project. Except I was already at the store, so this excuse doesn’t work either. It was an $8 project.
Maybe I didn’t have time. Nah, that’s nonsense. I had time to watch Survivor. (Jeff Kent is LDS by the way.)
In my defense, I must point out that I had purchased one flapper from the grocery store, on a whim. It was cheap, and made cheaply. I installed it, and for some reason, the flapper wouldn’t flap. Once the chain pulled it up, it stayed up. Sometimes we could wiggle the handle to make it drop, but usually there was just a constant rush of water until we took the lid off the tank and pushed the flapper down. This was much worse than the leak I was trying to fix.
My cowardly solution? Remove all the stuff perched on top of the tank lid, and put the lid on the floor. Open tank=Easy access. For three days we used out master bathroom with a lidless tank. I knew I needed to do something, or the next step would be subscribing to National Geographic and stacking the back issues in the hallway. It pains me to share this with you.
Yesterday, I came home. went right to work installing the new flappers, and returning the lid to its rightful place on top of the tank, rather than leaning against the wall. Both flappers worked flawlessly. Now we have no leaks. I told my wife, she said “Good.” It was horribly anti-climactic.
What did it take to fix my problem: $8 and 6 minutes. And the right part.
Why did it take me months to solve the problem when the solution was so easy?
The problem was irritating.
I knew what to do.
I had access to the solution.
The solution was neither difficult or expensive.
Yet still I waited – and I’m not sure why.
Please discuss the psychological ramifications of my inattentiveness…
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i don’t know what the psychological answer is, but it’s probably the same as why I’m the only person in the house who seems to see stuff sitting on the stairs that needs to go UP.
I believe there are two reasons folks procrastinate. One, they do not know how to do something, or think they will not be able to do it. Two, they don’t want to do it.
You admitted that you knew how to solve the problem. I cannot help you with the other reason.
It’s like the psychiatrist and the light bulb. It only takes one to change it. But the light bulb really has to want to change.
I used to think you were someone I know from church. I am becoming increasingly convinced you are actually me. We have several ‘problematic’ toilets in the house we moved into 2.5 years ago. Not a day goes by without me jiggling a handle, or me yelling into the air to get someone else to jiggle a handle.
I guess I’m going to head to Home Depot today. Thanks a lot. There’s $8 and 15 minutes I’ll never get back.
It’s called procrastination and I’m a pro at it…that’s why it took me this long to getting around to tell you. 🙂
The only thing that stuck with me is Jeff Kent is LDS?? I had no idea. LOL. What is with Probst and his blue shirts??
My cowardly solution? Remove all the stuff perched on top of the tank lid, and put the lid on the floor. Open tank=Easy access. For three days we used out master bathroom with a lidless tank. I knew I needed to do something, or the next step would be subscribing to National Geographic and stacking the back issues in the hallway. It pains me to share this with you.
^^^Best paragraph ever!!
I think you saved it for your fourth quarter comeback so you actually had something to do. Yet, another service you provide your loyal readers.
Or….you’re like other men who make easy stuff look hard impressed the ladies. (we’re not…we’re grateful,however)
I have know idea which is true….
Thanks for reminding me — I’ve got a flapper and a broken handle that both need replacing. I’m sure I’ll get to it one of these days.
Check the calendar: Mid-November might work well.
So soon?
Jeff Kent is mormon? I’m ahhhhhhshamed i didnt know that. Still need to watch this weeks episode… is it sad i want the s-e-x therapist to win it?
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Inertia. Perfect.
I like Vatermann’s and Paul’s answers, but I’d have to give the biggest credit to Tonya’s answer: the easiness of the way. I have to-do lists. Very old ones. And eventually I will have all the items marked off. But until then, I’m either busy helping kids with homework or doing something I think is fun, and it is easier to deal with crisis (homework “must” be done) or fun things than those important but not urgent things. I’m fairly certain if you had a leak dripping on to the floor that it would have qualified for the Urgent category and it wouldn’t have taken as long to repair. That’s probably why my yard looks like it does: it is important, but neither urgent nor fun.
Why? Inertia. (I’ve waited a long time to type this answer…)
I let a bad flapper go a week or so before I fixed it. I had even less of an excuse: I already had the replacement flapper sitting in the same bathroom. I blame having many small children for why I didn’t get around to it sooner. I’m not sure why you procrastinated.
Wednesday is my “Anti-Procrastination” day. So if there’s anything I’ve been procrastinating, that’s the day I get to it. It’s my “Someday”. Of course, this doesn’t mean that I remember to do these things every Wed. Sometimes I think I just don’t do things because they’re boring. And facebook is not *as* boring. So…hello, fb!, goodbye leaky toilets!
All this toilet talk has me remembering a funny story…when I was about 3 or 4 I remember sitting on the toilet and repeating the word “toilet” almost endlessly. It must have been for at least 10 minutes. I was listening to how it sounded and how it felt in my mouth to say it. And then all of a sudden I couldn’t remember how to say it correctly. My mouth wouldn’t say it right. The only thing my 3 year old mouth could form was “tolet”. And I knew it was wrong because I had just spent 10 minutes saying “toilet” over and over and over. So I called to my mom and said “what’s this thing called that I’m sitting on?” 🙂
I don’t know why I was there for so long. I think I just got distracted by how words sound. (And now I’m ending this tangent. 😛 )
What a coincidence! For me, Wednesday is “Anti-Anti-Procrastination Day,” when I sit around and grouse about how slow the week is going.
Which by coincidence is also “Survivor Day,” so no problems can be fixed after work on Wednesday because by the time you’ve exercised, had dinner, done family scripture reading, and almost fallen asleep, you have to watch the DVR’d Survivor before you go to work the next day and hear others talk about who got voted off before you’ve seen it.
Sometimes having to fix the “crappers” in our lives aren’t necessarily hard, nor costly – just require attention.
Now how was THAT for profound? eh? eh?
profound? yes! It’s astonishing the things
and people that get pushed aside despite their cries for attention. Why do husbands avoid giving attention to their wives? Why do mothers dread giving attention to their children? Why does something that brings great rewards and joy become monotonous when the need for attention is ever present?
Just fix the toilet, it’ll be done with. Just give her a kiss, you’ll enjoy it. Just read them a book, they’ll love you for it. Why are we so reluctant to feel accomplished, loving, or compassionate? Does it really boil down to selfishness?
Riddle me that Batman. or MMM.
sorry, I think this post and mCat’s use of “attention” hit a sore spot for me.
I came to the sensible conclusion yesterday that if it is to be, it is up to me. I was single for 37 years (roughly), and I’m a smart girl, so when DH is at his military training this weekend, I’m planning to tackle the following projects: install the clothesline, glue the piano stool back together, hang the pictures and smoke/CO detectors, repair the sewing room chairs, try to stop the kitchen sink drip, and (of course) fix the toilet leak (is there an epidemic?). Plus all of my usual stuff. To the tune of “Saturday is a special day.” Wish me luck!
For stuff like this, my husband always says: remind me when I have time. I’m like: What am I you’re blackberry? This is what “TO DO” lists are for. There’s just never a perfect moment to fix the flapper.
Blackberry? What’s that?
Most of our home repairs end up with something ELSE being damaged in the repair process, and 2 or 3 more trips to the hardware store. Maybe THAT’s why you didn’t get around to it.
I’m very proud of you for getting the toilets fixed.
We have a nifty pull out shelf in one of our kitchen cupboards that got broken somehow. I asked my husband for months if he would fix it. Finally, he told me he had fixed it. When I went to check it out, he had put up a sign on the shelf “Do Not Use.”
I think you’re way ahead of the game.
I think that the easiest fixes are sometimes the hardest to start because we are taught that the easiest way isn’t always the best way. Why would something as simple and relatively inexpensive be as easy as it seems? I also think that because they are a little bit annoying and not a whole lot of annoying, that we just live with the annoyance instead of fixing it. That could also be why your EC wasn’t shouting from the rooftops at your awesomeness, because she had just gotten used to the leak.
Hooray for fixing the toilets.
I think it’s fatigue. She gets tired of shouting my awesomeness from the rooftops because it is so frequently appropriate.
The little tab connected to the chain broke off the flapper. We took the lid off the tank so we could lift the flapper. How long ago? We started to worry that we were going to grow algae or something. So we put the lid back on. Now we have to remove the lid, lift the flapper, and return the lid every time. Not horrendous, but inconvenient. Rather makes one consider the seriousness of the need. Our HT showed one of my sons what to do. I just have to go buy a new flapper. Why haven’t I? busy, tired, fearful of getting it wrong. I don’t know. We are beginning to get tired of this though. So one day soon….
You can just come fix it for me. I promise to keep your identity secret.
But you’ll have to wait another 3 months.
We have a broken toilet handle. It’s been that way for at least 3 months. The lid to the toilet tank has been hanging out in the closet for those 3 months (so we can just pull the chain to flush the toilet). I know that all it would take is to buy a new handle and install it. Why don’t I do it? Pride is what I’ve come up with. I’d have to go into more details of my house and roommate situation, but long story short, I share the bathroom with 2 girls and the house with another 2 (5 of us in total) and I’m the ONLY one who ever fixes anything or cleans anything. I don’t want to do it. They expect me to, but I think someone else should have to do it. I should just bite the bullet and fix the toilet, they’ll praise me (as they always do when I fix something or clean something) and then it will be forgotten. Ugh. It really shouldn’t be a big deal. And that is all I have to say.
That is such a difficult dilemma that I don;t even know what to say. I wish you my best, and hope you can find a solution without humiliating yourself. Stand strong.
sounds like good practice for being a mom/housewife
I actually thought of the mom/housewife thing last night. I didn’t really like thinking about it, so I stopped thinking and went to bed.
Maybe the MMM will hire himself out to help you, Cathy.
No way. I will not become involved in this epic power struggle. But I would appreciate updates.
You want ME to tell you why you procrastinated a responsibility? ME who has 32 years of pictures in 32 boxes that mock me daily. Well, I can help in a way. I came to the conclusion that procrastination is a sin and prayed mightily for help. I’m on my way and if I live long enough I can accomplish this albatross. In other words, you can blame Lucifer for it.
Maybe you were slothful because of the easiness of the way…. 😉
Maybe you stalled because it wasn’t important enough?
As my EC says about doing stuff like that, “I’ll get to it. What’s the rush?”
I get “I don’t want to change things up” anxiety. Even if its good for me.