Washer Woes and The Shopping Process

My early 90s Kenmore has (finally) reached the limit of what we’re willing to spend on repairs.  It has served us very well.

For months, I had been babying the machine along, putting up with it’s off and on issues.

But, Friday, I noticed that it wasn’t agitating.  And it wasn’t spinning things out right, either. 

Having it finally fail to this extent was one of those things where you would do a dance of joy if you didn’t fear how much a new washer was going to cost you.

Not having the time to sit at the laundry mat, I’ve been stirring up my laundry with the handle of a rake for the last two days.  Usually around midnight when I finally get around to it.  I feel like an old-time mom in more ways than one!  Either that, or a witch at her cauldron, Lol! 

So, Friday, we kicked our half-hearted research into full gear.  My husband was up till the wee hours of Saturday morning reading reviews on all kinds and makes of washing machines.  Amazon.com is great place to find consumer reviews, btw. 

We started our shopping late Saturday afternoon.  Late, I say, because we spent the morning traveling.  And then we spent most of the early afternoon shivering our batookas off in the windy-and-cold-as-sleet rain watching the boys get hammered in their soccer game.  Poor guys!  But that’s another story.

It worked out well, though, because the McDonald’s Mocha I bought to warm me up, and the tea my husband bought to warm him up, and the milkshakes we bought to cheer the boys up, pretty much pumped-us-all-up for our shopping mission.    

I have to ask.  Have you shopped for a washing machine recently??  It’s almost as bad as shopping for a car!  Holy Cow!  Almost as expensive, too!

There are some humongous uprights with, like, a 5 Cubic foot capacity that I had been drooling over for a few weeks.  But a few bad reviews which my husband read shifted our focus back to the front-loaders. 

At the top of his final list were a 4 cubic foot capacity front-loading Maytag, and several similarly sized front-loading LG washers. 

I was simultaneously impressed and intimidated by their buttons, bells, lights and whistles. 

Seriously, are these machines supposed to wash my clothes or fly to the moon??  

We went to Menards, then Home Depot, then Lowes, and finally, Best Buy.  At each stop, I collected printouts of specs and prices from our favorite machines, and we eventually came up with a winner.

This was what I wanted in a machine:

• Big.  It had to be big enough to wash a queen size comforter.
• Efficient. Of course.
• Easy to use  Simple controls.
• Be the best possible value for our bucks.

What we chose is definitely big.  And it is supposed to be efficient.  But the bells and whistles make me skeptical about whether I’ll be able to figure it out without a PhD. 

I told my engineer husband that he may have to do the first thirty or so loads of laundry till I get the hang of it, Lol! 

Want to know what we got???  Well, I’ll have to tell you tomorrow because the evening rush is upon me and the boys have soccer practice to boot.  (Aren’t I bad?)  I’m not even going to proof this post--cause I gotta run.  Forgive any glaring mistakes, will you?? 

On the bright side, tomorrow I’ll have pictures to show you because it is being delivered between 9 and 11!  :)

Happy Monday, friends!