Rise of the Decorative Toilet Plunger!

Do you know how hard it is to find a good plunger? I go cheap the the darn thing either falls apart or it's impossible to depress (is the the right word?). So after much consideration, I figured that one amazingly reviewed plunger costing 5-10 times as much as 5-10 cheapies which fell apart ought to be an acceptable compromise, right?

So I fire up Amazon.com, type in toilet plunger, sort by new (who wants a USED plunger?), and sort by 4 stars. Down to 379 listings. I look at anything with more than 2 reviews (got to watch out for those shills),without an obvious force cup in their pictures (my toilet and pipes are large and old, delicate too. I'd replace them but I can barely afford the cheapie plungers here!). Scroll past all the listings for toilet brushes, toilet paper holders, toilet themed candy (eww! Kidsmania Sour Flush Candy Plunger with Sour Powder Dip, 1.38-Ounce Plungers (Pack of 12)), book about the digestive system (how'd that get in there? Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach), many other books (nearly about half the results and most of them not remotely related to repair) and other non-toilet plunger-related stuff. Damn you, Amazon search!

Of the small percentage of results that fit, what do the reviews say? "This toilet plunger holder is so pretty I bought one for each of my bathrooms!" "This toilet plunger is really a pretty blue though you can't see it in the picture because if the holder!" "This plunger and brush set looked so good and took up so little space!" "The holder really helps keeps the yucky germs contained!"

What
the
F---!

I'm looking for a plunger that works, not one that's just pretty to look at! I blame all those home decorating shows. The rise of the decorative toilet plunger indeed.

Could someone pretty, pretty, pretty pleeease direct me to a sturdy non-force cup 6" cup size plunger that works and keeps working for years? It doesn't even have to be pretty.

Deals! What do purchases say about you?

Deals! Deals! Deals! The funny thing about deals is that they can make you buy things you never intended to. I didn't really need a waffle maker, I just thought it'd be cool to make my own fresh and everything. I used it a total of one time before shoving it somewhere I can't get to it without a complicated set of maneuvers involving boxes and back pain.

I subscribe to daily emails from Slickdeals.net and 3-hourly ones from Fatwallet.com to keep track of deals. It means, of course, that I miss out on most of the deals which usually get snapped up in minutes, if not seconds. Which is fine by my wallet, which would never survive a whole day of real time deals.

And what are these deals for? What would these purchases say about the people buying them? Some of this stuff is supposed to be for reselling on eBay, but even then it means there's quite a market for this stuff. As far as I can tell, Slickdealers/Fatwalleters/eBay buyers are chocolate-loving, coffee-loving, rice-loving, body building, computer building, media loving, gun toting fashionistas quite possibly with revolving balances on lots of credit cards. After all, you can never have too many candies (like Candy House Chocolate Truffles in Gold Foil - Reception Accessories (Google Affiliate Ad)), K-cups, rice cookers, pounds of whey protein, computer parts, BluRays, TVs (like Samsung 46 " Black LED 1080P 120HZ HDTV - UN46EH6000 (Google Affiliate Ad)), ebooks, guns, shoes, and credit cards. Especially when they're 70% or more off or even free! Never mind that you'll never read all those ebooks; they just look cool on your 50% off ereader.