Pay the fee.
(right now, with 18,517 tx in wait, the 100% possibility for next block inclusion is 0,0005 BTC which is $0,341, versus the "usual" $0,0682).
Use an intelligent wallet, scanning the average fee atm, and no hold up. I have never been delayed, all my transactions went through to the first possible block. All this mempool backlog is an unnecessary FUD, anyone who pays the actual required fee gets in the first block.
I thought that basically every existing wallet is intelligent and has the ability to set the lowest yet the most suitable transaction fee.
Of course, I am talking about mainstream wallets - like all stuff listed on Bitcoin.org, in their section "Choose your wallet".