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"  As toilet designs have evolved, the need for plungers has decreased and that&amp;#039;s a good thing! I realized recently that I&amp;#039;ve never even used mine on a toilet... but I have used it often in other places. Every year around Thanksgiving and Christmas my garbage disposer clogs up. Because I&amp;#039;m busy peeling potatoes or doing other holiday prep work at the sink, I don&amp;#039;t pay attention to how much stuff I&amp;#039;m actually throwing down there. Then, I turn it on and the water backs up into the sink. The first time this happened, I emptied the cabinet below the sink and my husband took the plumbing apart to reveal a pipe completely clogged with sweet potato skins! I wasn&amp;#039;t happy that I had to stop cooking, empty the cabinet, and leave the kitchen while he fixed it. And I was definitely not happy that I could have prevented this by being mindful of how much I was stuffing down the disposer. I&amp;#039;d like to be able to say &amp;quot;Lesson Learned&amp;quot; but I have to confess I&amp;#039;ve done it many times since. But the first time was the last time we had to take the plumbing apart. Remember, I said I never used our plunger in a toilet. Since it was clean, the next time my garbage disposer clogged, my husband just removed the cover and started plunging. In about a minute we heard a whoosh, removed the plunger, and everything had gone down. Since then, we&amp;#039;ve done this technique about 5 more times with success every time! Now, back to the bathroom but to the tub not the toilet. The water had been slowly backing up when we shower and as I didn&amp;#039;t have any drain cleaner in the house my husband used the plunger on the drain and it&amp;#039;s like we have a brand new tub! And we didn&amp;#039;t have to use any chemicals to unclog the pipes! Do you have any tools that you use for reasons they weren&amp;#039;t designed for? Write me a comment and let me know! And be sure to check out Good Housekeeping&amp;#039;s other articles about fixing things around your house: DIY Renovation: Basement Makeover, DIY\u3000Closet Organizing Systems: The GHRI Test and DIY Home Energy Audit from thedailygreen.com. And if you&amp;#039;re going to be in the NYC area be sure to come by and take a tour of our labs! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a21518/alternative-uses-for-a-plunger/>