New Washer!

   My wife and I were going over the finances the other day. When I expressed excitement about paying off the next loan on our list she reminded me that we had agreed to buy a new washing machine when we paid off all the credit cards. I was momentarily disappointed because I was looking forward to making a dent in that debt, but she was right.

   Ten years ago when my mother handed down her old washer and dryer it was a score for a new family with an infant. Both the washer and dryer were in great shape and we could not have been able to afford anything close to this fantastic gift. Today the dryer works fine -- of course we only use it one or two times a month. The washer still works, but the upper part of the agitator has worn to a point of not really working. In addition, it's an older unit that uses an embarrassing amount of water and electricity. If it were only for the worn parts I would try to find replacement parts and fix it, but with advance in efficient washing machines it feels a better move to upgrade.

   We had made plans to look at new machines tomorrow as my wife was out of town today. This morning, though, I got online and started shopping around and found that one of our local stores was having a sale that ended today. Not just that, they had a model with the lowest price I had found so far, all the features my wife was looking for, and had the best energy rating of every unit I had looked at thus far. I contacted my wife and relayed the information and she gave me the go ahead.

   When I arrived at the store they didn't have the exact model on the floor, but a similar model and I discussed the differences with the sales clerk. I had already done a lot of research online, so it was really just a matter of making sure it had a solid build and was going to do what I expected. When the clerk informed me that there was no delivery available for a couple days I asked if it would fit in my pickup.

   "Sure", he said.

   Sold.

   I was really counting on the delivery because it included taking away the old machine, but I had laundry waiting to be done. The worst part was not having anyone handy to help with the whole process (that's not exactly true, my ten-year-old son helped out several times). It took me about an hour and a half to pull the old washer out and get the new washer from the truck to it's place in the pantry and set up.

   The new washer is a front loader with allergy and sanitizing cycles. It is unbelievably quiet and uses a very small fraction of the water that our old washer used. According to the energy tag it's annual cost is about $11, based on eight loads a week. We would have to work to average half that. It also spins out the clothes so well that they dry much faster -- a huge plus for us since we hang dry almost all of our laundry!

   The wife and I agreed to try and sell the old washer for a small price. Hopefully we can find it a good home.