Another MIL post. Caused expensive plumbing problem

[Anonymous]

Other things to not put down the disposal are anything stringy - celery, lemon grass, rhubarb. It will get wrapped around the disposal blades.

I would let this one go, but next time she visits remind her you have a delicate plumbing system and any cooking peels need to go in the trash and the disposal is only for little bits of food left after plates are scraped into the trash.

OP - I feel for you. My inlaws don't know what vegetables, legumes, or grains are and think some iceberg with Italian dressing and 2 cherry tomatoes is enough veggies for dinner. Every meal involves pasta or mash potatoes and 2 kinds of meat. I usually offer to cook lentils or beans once during each visit to their house so I have leftovers to eat. If not, I am so constipated after 2 days I am a bloated cranky mess. I bring my own pears with me now when we visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Plumber is now here. MIL put down a huge cabbage core in our garbage disposal. Potato peels. Onion skins. It somehow made it through then jammed at entrance to main line. Plumber is now CUTTING out pipe in the basement. Just got the giant wad of food out. Big bill.
DH mentions this to his parents who are now home in NY. FIL's response was to chastise him, "your mother made you a nice dinner. Didn't you like it?"

You sound like a difficult hostess who they have to put up with to visit their grandchildren. My parents and I have been putting stuff like this down our disposals for about 40 years and we've only had a small handful of plumbing calls. If it "somehow made it through" then it means that there was something wrong with your disposal and it was going to go at any time. It could have happened a few days later. The only thing your mother-in-law's food did was made it happen slightly sooner rather than later. How old is your disposal? It sounds like you should consider replacing the disposal.

You do sound unhospitable and ungrateful. I'm sorry you don't like your mother-in-law, but whether you have issues and reasons to dislike her, she also clearly has issues and reasons to dislike you. But you are now tied by family (both your husband and children) and you have to find a way to make peace with each other. Tolerate what you can and find ways to take time for yourself to relax and calm down when you can't.

Not OP, but you aren't supposed to put peels and stuff like that down disposals. They really aren't meant for that. I don't understand why people don't seem to understand that.

I'd be upset, too, if I were OP. What her MIL did is the equivalent of putting a tampon down someone's toilet and causing a problem (i.e. they are both things plumbers recommend against but if people want to do it in their own home, fine; they shouldn't do it in a guest's home).

OP, I would have your husband make it clear to MIL that she's not allowed to cook at your house. The reason he should mention this is because it sounds like she brought the food without asking, and I imagine she'll do that again in the future. But I wouldn't hold a grudge. Just be clear that MIL's inappropriate use of disposal caused an expensive repair, and so MIL has lost cooking privileges at your house.

Are you really not supposed to flush a tampon at someone's house? Ewww -- throwing it in the regular trash is kind of gross. I understand not flushing on a boat or a cabin, but shouldn't modern plumbing handle a tampon??

No, you are not supposed to put a tampon down a toilet. Tampons absorb water and expand. they are the source of lots of back ups. that's why public restrooms have trash facilities and a sign that says not to flush feminine products down a toilet.

Roll it up in toilet paper and dispose in the trash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ignorance of plumping on this thread is astounding.

Of COURSE you are not supposed to flush tampons. Wrap it in toilet paper and place it in the trash. Or if you are that sensitive, pack a small trash bag in your purse and put it in there.

It really is.

[Anonymous]

There are several threads on tampons and flushing. I was educated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the perspective! This is the third time she's clogged the disposal. Previously we'd been able to unclog it ourselves with our own snake. We've explained to her that certain things like onion peels, eggshells, coffee grounds, shouldn't go down the disposal (if you disagree with me, ask your plumber).

Go back and read the first link given on page 1. Periodically you are supposed to put eggshells, small chicken bones or other hard brittle items into the disposal. The disposal will break them up and they scour the inside of the disposal chamber. Additionally things like this and ice are good to periodically put into your disposal because they also will hone the blades of the disposal keeping it running better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Plumber is now here. MIL put down a huge cabbage core in our garbage disposal. Potato peels. Onion skins. It somehow made it through then jammed at entrance to main line. Plumber is now CUTTING out pipe in the basement. Just got the giant wad of food out. Big bill.
DH mentions this to his parents who are now home in NY. FIL's response was to chastise him, "your mother made you a nice dinner. Didn't you like it?"

You sound like a difficult hostess who they have to put up with to visit their grandchildren. My parents and I have been putting stuff like this down our disposals for about 40 years and we've only had a small handful of plumbing calls. If it "somehow made it through" then it means that there was something wrong with your disposal and it was going to go at any time. It could have happened a few days later. The only thing your mother-in-law's food did was made it happen slightly sooner rather than later. How old is your disposal? It sounds like you should consider replacing the disposal.

You do sound unhospitable and ungrateful. I'm sorry you don't like your mother-in-law, but whether you have issues and reasons to dislike her, she also clearly has issues and reasons to dislike you. But you are now tied by family (both your husband and children) and you have to find a way to make peace with each other. Tolerate what you can and find ways to take time for yourself to relax and calm down when you can't.

Not OP, but you aren't supposed to put peels and stuff like that down disposals. They really aren't meant for that. I don't understand why people don't seem to understand that.

I'd be upset, too, if I were OP. What her MIL did is the equivalent of putting a tampon down someone's toilet and causing a problem (i.e. they are both things plumbers recommend against but if people want to do it in their own home, fine; they shouldn't do it in a guest's home).

OP, I would have your husband make it clear to MIL that she's not allowed to cook at your house. The reason he should mention this is because it sounds like she brought the food without asking, and I imagine she'll do that again in the future. But I wouldn't hold a grudge. Just be clear that MIL's inappropriate use of disposal caused an expensive repair, and so MIL has lost cooking privileges at your house.

Are you really not supposed to flush a tampon at someone's house? Ewww -- throwing it in the regular trash is kind of gross. I understand not flushing on a boat or a cabin, but shouldn't modern plumbing handle a tampon??

No. No, it cannot.

I hope you never visit my house and flush a tampon down the toilet, because a nightmare can ensue.

Sheesh!

[Anonymous]

potato skins cause issues for disposals. speak from experience. not sure if they owe you anything for the bill..it's life. Next time tell her to wait before disposing.

[Anonymous]

We do not let any food down the disposal if we can help it. Every bit of food scrap is collected in a big plastic container near the sink, and we put it for composting. Onion peels and cooked rice is particularly bad for clogging the drain.

It is environmentally more sound to throw these bits of food in the garbage instead of the disposal. Why? Because when water from these systems are cleaned, these solid particles are removed and put in trash. It would take less energy, if you never threw food in the sink in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't ask for money. Don't let her cook anymore. Have your husband tell her.

+1

[Anonymous]

My MIL has clogged our sink with celery stalks and piles of other vegetables and bones while she makes soup after christmas. Its infuriating and has busted our sink twice. My wife and I now have to hover and keep reminding her that our garbage disposal is not a landfill. She never learns, even though she has broken her own disposal multiple times doing the same thing.

[Anonymous]

A long standing issue has been that FIL doesn't like my cooking. He prefers heavy 1950s type food. I make meats, veggies, pot pie etc. MIL always wants to cook so FIL will be happy, but I politely decline, mainly because both my kids and I hate her cooking. Is this all ridiculous or what?! But I think it's my house, you eat my food. When I visit you then I'll eat your food.

You sound like an awful person. You know he doesn't like your cooking but you won't let your MIL make something he likes. He's supposed to just suck it up. What a bitch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

A long standing issue has been that FIL doesn't like my cooking. He prefers heavy 1950s type food. I make meats, veggies, pot pie etc. MIL always wants to cook so FIL will be happy, but I politely decline, mainly because both my kids and I hate her cooking. Is this all ridiculous or what?! But I think it's my house, you eat my food. When I visit you then I'll eat your food.

You sound like an awful person. You know he doesn't like your cooking but you won't let your MIL make something he likes. He's supposed to just suck it up. What a bitch.

Seriously? Guests in someone else's home are expected to eat what they are given.

Didn't your mother teach you basic manners?

[Anonymous]

OP - your perspective on guests and hosting is pretty much 180 degrees from how most people view it. That fact that you don't think you should accommodate or be considerate of a guest in your home and that guests should just do whatever you do is odd. Usually it is the opposite. That as hosts you want to make your guests comfortable so a good host caters to their guests, not the other way around.

[Anonymous]

It seems petty to charge or even gripe at in-laws for a broken disposal. Were there no broken windows in your husband's childhood? Clogged plumbing? Other expensive accidents? Did they not foot the bill for your husband for at least his first 18 years? Let it go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

A long standing issue has been that FIL doesn't like my cooking. He prefers heavy 1950s type food. I make meats, veggies, pot pie etc. MIL always wants to cook so FIL will be happy, but I politely decline, mainly because both my kids and I hate her cooking. Is this all ridiculous or what?! But I think it's my house, you eat my food. When I visit you then I'll eat your food.

You sound like an awful person. You know he doesn't like your cooking but you won't let your MIL make something he likes. He's supposed to just suck it up. What a bitch.

Seriously? Guests in someone else's home are expected to eat what they are given.

Didn't your mother teach you basic manners?

Yes, seriously. You do sound like an awful person. A host should strive to make a guest as comfortable as possible while visiting in your home. While you don't need to wait hand and foot on the person, just having food that they can appreciate and eat is the barest courtesy. Having only food that he doesn't like, repeatedly, after more than one visit is just crass. Not only does he not like you cooking, but you churlishly forbid your MIL from preparing foods that he WILL like? You really are trying as hard as possible to keep them from visiting. If you feel that inhospitiable, why don't you just let your husband take the kids to visit them and you stay home. Everyone will enjoy themselves much more.