Our bathroom sink was draining very s-l-o-w-l-y. I didn't want to go out and just buy a lot of expensive drain cleaners if I could do it cheaper with natural ingredients around the house. After a quick internet search I decided to use baking soda and vinegar. The website I found said to pour 1 cup of baking soda down the drain followed by 1 cup of vinegar, pull the plug, wait for about 30 minutes, then wash it all down with hot water. First off, we could only stuff in about 1/4 cup of baking soda because we couldn't get the plug out of the bathroom sink. Then, when we poured the vinegar in it fizzed up out of the drain and into the basin of the sink. By the time we were able to get most of the vinegar and baking soda into the drain and close it off the reaction was already slowing. We did this twice and it made a little bit of a difference but nothing to write home about. I was frustrated. How did people clean out the drains before the invention and commercial availability of drain cleaners? Did they just hire a plumber? Did they have to take the sink apart and snake it? Maybe if it was so bad that the water didn't drain at all but probably people started with a very simple tool that is found in nearly every home - a plunger. This was my 3 AM realization. We could try to plunge out the clog. (FYI- Be sure that you cover the overflow hole so you don't get nasty sink gunk sprayed on yourself. After learning that lesson the hard way, I had my husband hold a folded up hand towel over the hole while I plunged.) I am happy to report that the sink is draining like there was never an issue and with relatively little effort and no money. Hooray for the simple things in life.
