Phone: Add Ridex To Septic Tank

It never ceases to amaze me how I can nearly instantly create a blog from any subject. My phone just reminded me that it’s time to add Ridex tonight. If you’re not knowledgeable about Ridex, it’s a store bought substance filled with little creatures that love to dine in septic tanks. These little buggers dine, devour, and decrease the tank’s contents. This process allows whatever is in there to diminish to the point it can seep out into our ground.

While it’s not a subject that most want to discuss let alone write about, it is a minor monthly action I do to enjoy the benefits of modern living that include indoor plumbing. And, for that, I willingly make sure we have Ridex every month to flush down the toilet according to my phone’s notices because unlike remembering my dogs’ monthly medications, I don’t really want to have to put Ridex into my brain as something I must remember to do.

We didn’t want a house with a septic system for this very reason. No, we purposely chose a house in which the listing said, “City sewer.” The day before we were to close with all of our belongings in a huge U-Haul truck and after 10 days in a hotel room with two dogs, we learned that this house was not on city sewer, but had a septic tank.

Huh. Ugh. Big decision to ponder.

The decision process was heavily influenced by all the moving proceedings that began in April once we both agreed, ”It’s time for us to move.” Four trips to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota occurred relatively quickly because “west, but not west coast” is where we initially intended to live. Four trips of at least 12 hours of driving only to realize that we would be out priced at every turn in 2021 due to a massive exodus of Californians with deep pockets filled with cash. Lots of cash.

Realtors were pleasantly stunned as prices tripled, but shrugged perplexedly when we asked them, “When do you think it’ll return to normal?”

We needed a new plan. A new direction. A different way of thinking.

We were moving from a small, remote town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were we had purchased ten years prior in 2011 a five bedroom, three story, 2400 square foot Queen Anne Victorian house with a good sized yard for $148,000. The period-rich details of this house were amazing. Going from such a unique and glamorous house to a two bedroom one bath fixer upper (I’m being veeeeery kind here using the words fixer upper) for approximately $350,000 with very little yard was not going to be okay.

We needed a new plan. A new direction. A different way of thinking, for sure.

To make a very long story relatively shorter, we found ourselves the day before closing in an even tinier town in North Carolina feeling somewhat jilted because of the misleading information representing our potential new home. As you already can surmise, we chose monthly Ridex notices in my phone.

The Upside

The realtor was ethical and paid for the inspection and removal of the existing septic tank’s contents that day so we could be the proud owners of an aged, but empty septic tank.

While walking the grounds for the first time, my husband turned the corner to see a large, white, mechanical, rectangular contraption connected to the house. It was a whole house generator that was not in the realtor’s listing!

We thoroughly have enjoyed it turning on with reliability several times during severe weather. While many homes are blackened on the street, our house is lighted with us watching TV as if nothing is happening outside.

We traded having to spend approximately $500 every 3-5 years to empty our septic tank for a $25,000 whole house gas generator. Our ability to adapt to a new plan (where can we afford to live within our means?), a new direction (west to southeast), and a different way of thinking (we will flush Ridex into our septic tank on a monthly basis) provided us with a top of the line generator.

How many mundane situations in your life have led you to something surprising? Something better? Something you didn’t see coming that would be an incredible gift? We experienced this from the septic gods. I’ll take the gift of a whole house generator over city sewer any day of the week.

In your parenting life, have you had to say similar statements such as, “We needed a new plan. A new direction. A different way of thinking.” This is what I do with parents in my Multi-Dimensional Parenting Program. I believe we always have options with everything…and, I mean everything.

I LOVE witnessing the opening of avenues of opportunity with parents!

I LOVE observing the freshness in their eyes when they realize they discover all their options!

I LOVE sensing the upliftment from the parental drudgery they were experiencing!

Do you need a new parental plan? A new parental direction? A different parental way of thinking?

For more information about my program and me: www.middleschoolyearswithouttears.com/consulting