Happy Mother's Day!

For the last several years, we have priced appliances and then put off purchasing a new washer and dryer because 1) the old ones were still working and 2) other applicances broke.

Last week, my dryer decided it didn't want to work anymore. I guess 13 years and 2+ loads a day for 5 years got to be too much. We narrowed the problem down to an overload circuit on the motor. Unfortunately, the motor pieces aren't sold seperately. The entire motor, which was available, one of the only replacement pieces still being sold, was a much as a new, plain jane dryer. We figured out that we could limp the machine along by drying in shifts - meaning run the dryer until it stops and then letting it cool off and re-running with anything not dry.

Today, we decided to stop by Lowes and Home Depot, to start pricing a new one. We knew that this "patch" wasn't going to make it until Thanksgiving, the day we thought was the time to get the best price. We discovered that May is a good time too because the new models are just coming out and all the floor models are being clearanced. So, we found the ones we liked and then crossed the street to compare and did a little Internet comparsion shopping too. At Home Depot, we found a Maytag pair of front loaders on clearance and they would honor the additional 10% off for the energy star rating on the washer (BTW, Lowe's wouldn't. She kept putting qualifications on what we could get discounts on) By definition, dryers are not energy star compliant.

So, we left Home Depot today the proud new owners of a pretty good set of Maytag HE washer and dryer. The price we got - very comparable to Black Friday sales!!!

We did purchase a set on the higher end of the appliance spectrum. However, given that we purchased the top of the line appliances 13 years ago and the only problems we've had has been the last week. I think the odds are in our favor of having this washer and dryer in 13 years. The warranty includes parts for 10 years.

Now, Craig can have clothes for work this week and the kids can have clean, dry sheets on their bed!!!

So far, the load of towels was 55 minutes because we opted for the extra spin. To dry? - 37 minutes! WOW!

What about my homemade laundry soap? I was at the bottom of the barrel anyway. So, we are going to get the recommended HE detergent to make sure we understand how the machine works and what the water levels are and how much is really needed. Then, we'll start using the homemade again.

Happy Mother's Day!

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