Over the last many months, we've had some frantic calls from customers whose rings were accidentally flushed down the toilet or dropped in the garbage disposal. Mr. Rooter plumbers across the U.S. have risen to the call and rescued many rings.

One ring rescue in January was handled by Mike Roberts, Mr. Rooterin Phoenix, who miraculously recovered a $70,000 diamond wedding ring that was accidentally flushed down the toilet in a restaurant. Mike came to the rescue a second time several months later, this time for a ring gifted from father to daughter. Way to go Mr. Roberts.

Then there were the wedding and engagement rings flushed down the toilet by a toddler in Essex County, Mass; Dan Kraby was the hero in this retrieval. The boy's mother has a great story to tell when he grows up!

Shortly after, Jim Hauk of Waco, Tx came through for a woman whose diamond fell off her ring while she was washing dishes.

You'd be surprised to know how many rings go down toilets and sinks each year. Here are a few ideas to keep this from happening to you:

• Keep a small dish or ring holder in your bathroom to safely put your rings in when washing up.
• Do not put your ring on the back of a toilet - it is a recipe for disaster. More go down the toilet that way than any other way.
• When your fingers are cold, they tend to shrink. When washing with cold weather of sustaining cold weather be extra careful and maybe consider taking it off and putting it someplace safe.
• Put the plug in your sink before washing to keep a ring from immediately falling down the drain. Usually when you plug the sink a nice side benefit is you will use less water.

Would you know what to do if something does go down a drain? You should call a plumber immediately and don't assume it's a hopeless call. We have resources to recover these items. For example, in all of our rescue situations the plumbers used a video inspection camera to find the location of the ring.

Here's to a world-class day for you and yours!