How about you stop being cheap and start including a higher fee? I've had no problems transacting ever (IIRC). I add a pretty high fee and it ends up usually confirming within the next block. Another factor to consider is the priority of your coins on your addresses (could be e.g. low). If you combine a lower fee with that it could explain your situation in general.
Blockchain.info has nothing to do with the BTC blockchain. There is an ongoing spam attack, so to confirm you need to pay a higher fee right now, thats all.
They should have never chosen that name. People tend to confuse both terms even though they're quite different.