The transaction backlog has been pretty serious lately. I am enjoying the newer wallets that tell you the dynamic fees based on network conditions. But sometimes they are far off. The other day I was buying something on newegg and the wallet software told me it would cost $32 usd to send. I dropped it down to 25 potential blocks and it still confirmed on the next block. But right now with the mempool so full it is unlikely that would work. Your suggestions are great!
For now I have been trying to transact with faster blockchain as much as possible to avoid the large fees on BTC.
Also if anyone is trying to figure out the correct price to pay for Ethereum transactions google "ETH gas station" the site will quickly show you the correct fee to pay to send eth quickly.
Transaction fees are getting ridiculous man. That is why I send thru GDAX when I can with no fee. Also I highly recommend using alt-coins for transfer (as long as exchange rates are fair). I prefer Litecoin for deposit and withdrawals since the BTC network is always backlogged.