There are plenty of little projects to keep a house running smoothly. Organizing household details and repairs shouldn’t be overwhelming, and I especially love the ones that take about 30 minutes. A leaking toilet is one of the most annoying and possibly easiest projects around the home to fix. Oh, and possibly one of the least expensive, too! I know, you may really love your hunky plumber, but I don’t love a plumber’s bill.

By the way, if you’d like to know more about becoming a fix-it girl, you should really learn from my friend Beth Allen at Hip Chicks. She’s going to be at the Philly Home Show this weekend, as am I on Saturday at 7 pm. You can use the code NAPO for a 2-for-1 ticket deal online. Hope to see you there.

A leaking tank, by the way, doesn’t leak out onto the floor. Rather, it slowly leaks from the tank into the bowl, which requires the tank to regularly refill, which is why it sounds like your toilet is refilling itself even when no one has been to the bathroom. When this little $5 rubber flapper gets old, it sags and leaks. Luckily, it’s an easy fix, and you can save on your water bill by taking these three easy steps. This is totally a DIY job!

How to Fix a Running Toilet

Step 1.  Shut off the water to your toilet at the valve, which is that handle near the floor. Then flush, and the tank will remain empty, which you’ll see when you carefully take off the top of the tank.

Step 2. Inside the tank, take off the flapper covering the hole and carry it with you to the hardware store. If you are on the Main Line, head to the Do It Best Hardware store in Wayne, where my hunky friends will look at your parts and send you home with exactly what you need.

Step 3. Most often, only the rubber flapper has to be replaced, and the little float that comes with it may need to be adjusted. Here, you can see the red flapper and the little yellow float in my case. You don’t even need any tools for this little project. Occasionally, all of the inside parts, known as the fill valve assembly, might need to be replaced, but this is still usually a relatively easy DIY job, and any hardware store worth anything will be happy to explain how to do it.

Honestly, the hardest part of this job was finding the half hour when everyone else would be out of the house so I could turn off the water at the valve, take the flapper out, and not be concerned that someone had to get in there while I ran to the hardware store for the new part.

Not your usual organizing article, I know, but part of any organizing job is estimating how long it will take you to complete the job, and not getting sidetracked before the important part is done.

Do you have a toilet leaking right now? Does this give you a plan, a time frame, and enough information to fix it this week?