In Which the Washer and Dryer Get Returned Before They Are Even Delivered

Last week when I bought a refrigerator it was kind of by accident.  I have "buy new refrigerator" as one of my annual goals and I happened to be at Best Buy and saw a great sale on a scratch and dent refrigerator. The scratches were barely noticeable, the small dent was in the back where it couldn't be seen, the price was excellent, and it was a Whirlpool which is a good brand so I bought it immediately.  I then went home and read the reviews about the refrigerator and it got 4.5 stars out of 5 by more than 30 reviewers so I was happy with my purchases (and FWIW, the reviewers were correct when they said the ice maker was loud and sometimes the ice gets stuck in the chute but we can live with that.  In other words, I take what reviewers say to heart because they are generally right on about the item they are reviewing--barring the few reviews where it sounds like the reviewer was paid to write a great review or the rare reviewer who happens to get stuck with a lemon when generally the product is very good).

Fast forward to last night.  I forgot to check the reviews for the washer and dryer set that we had bought and which was scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday so I hopped online and found these reviews and was pretty disappointed.  I mean this is a Maytag which is supposed to be a good brand and there was the lonely Maytag repairman all those years ago! The reason I chose this set was that the price was good and the washer was a top loader (I loathe the new and popular front loaders as you practically need to stand on your head to get the clothes out of them or you can pay $400 extra for empty metal boxes that raise the machines up, neither choice I like).  My grandmother had Maytags, my mother had Maytags, and I had Maytags and they used to last forever.  Plus I've had a number of friends spend a lot of money on expensive front loading machines and then need to make service call after service call because they have problems with them.

What I want in a washing machine is a good, solid, basic machine that washes my clothes and will last for decades (like appliances used to, apparently this isn't often the case these days).  The set we have now was bought used and while they work well, there is too much vibration in the washer--it doesn't hop across the floor but it does shake a lot.  So after much research last night, I cancelled my order for the washer and dryer and got a refund and how have my heart set on this washer and dryer set.  Since this set will cost nearly a thousand dollars more than the set we had purchased, I have decided to wait a couple of months to save up a bit more money before we buy them.

OK Now I am REALLY Done Shopping

Today we had nothing to do.  Hubby is finished with poker for a while (some guy won the $120k jackpot late last night so now all of the tired poker players can go home and recuperate from playing so much) so I said "let's go pick up a kitchen faucet at Home Depot."  $1,175.18 later we are finished with everything on my shopping list...  (As you can guess, no spend month starts on Saturday).  So here is the whole shopping saga:

Last week we bought a new refrigerator.  It cost $1099 but since it had a small dent and a few scratches because it was a floor model, we got it for $699.96 ($759.68 with tax).  This price included free delivery and set up.

That same day I also picked up two 32" TVs for our guest rooms and, since we don't have cable TV, we also bought digital antennas for the TVs.  The total costs for these were $432.38--$199 each on sale--plus $20 for each antenna).  Today we set them up and I think our guests will be happy with them.

Then today we got the kitchen sink faucet we originally went to buy which was $64.00 however the guy said if hubby applied for a Home Depot credit card he would get $50 off the purchase so the faucet actually cost $14!  I asked him if he would give me $50 off a purchase too if I applied for a credit card and he said yes so I applied and bought a $119 garage door opener for $69.  Note that as soon as we get the credit cards we will probably cancel them because we certainly don't need any more credit cards but this was a great deal and saved us $100 on our purchases.

This is the old, cheap faucet (you really do get what you pay for):

And this is the new faucet (love it!):

And then, as we were leaving the store, we saw a sign for 10% additional off all appliances so we ran back to the appliance section and ended up buying a new washer and dryer!  The set will be delivered and set up on Tuesday so no picture yet.  The set was originally $1,299.98 but they were on sale for $1,087.93 then we got another 10% ($100) off for plus free delivery and hook up.  We did need to buy new hoses and vent material so the total cost was $1,060.92 which is less that I had planned on paying for a new washer and dryer.  Overall I am really happy with the prices we got on all of the items we bought.  I told hubby I was done shopping and he said "Thank God" then I told him I wanted new flooring in the whole house but would wait until next year to which he said "Thank God" again.

Daily update

• Walk: 0 miles (911 miles to go).  It was so incredibly windy today that I didn't want to walk.  When it is windy in Las Vegas it is brown and hazy outside because there is so much sand and dust in the air--it burns your eyes and makes you cough and it's just yuck.
• No spend: We spent $1,175.18 today.  $74.57 at Home Depot for a garage door opener.  $1060.92 at Home Depot for a washer and dryer.  $34.52 at Home Depot for a kitchen faucet, plumbers tape and acetone.  $5.17 at Burger King for lunch.
• Update this blog: yep
• Update client's blog: yep.  My client doesn't care how much I update his blog as long as there are a couple of posts a week.  This month I decided to post six days a week but it didn't do much to increase traffic so next month I will go back to two or three posts a week.
• Photo: yep
• Genealogy: about a half hour of research.
• Writing: a couple of paragraphs

I Spent A LOT of Money Today

Like I said yesterday, our "no spend" month kind of fizzled out...  I went to Best Buy and found a floor model side-by-side refrigerator that would be perfect for us.  Fortunately the price was dropped from $1099 to $699 and it will be delivered for free.  And since I was spending money with abandon, I decided to pick up a couple of TVs that were on sale as well.  I was thisclose to buying a new washer and dryer set but they wouldn't give me a better price (since I was buying so much at Best Buy I wanted even more of a discount but they wouldn't give me a discount so I just got the fridge).  I used my (quickly unfrozen) credit card for these purchases so I can get some additional cash back; I figure I will pay this off with my earnings from this month and next month before I get a new washer and dryer (since our washer and dryer are old, I was pretty amazed at all of the new bells and whistles on new machines).  Ughhh  I am so done with spending money.

Daily update

• Walk: 2 miles (921 miles to go!)
• No spend: Total spent today $1299.68.  $45.95 for gas, $18.39 at Ross (shower curtain and ear buds to listen to music when I walk), Target $432.38 (2 32" TVs for the guest rooms), $759.68 at Best Buy for a refrigerator, $1.67 for a donut at Dunkin Donuts (expensive!), and $30.80 at Albertsons (2 lbs pasta, 2 jars pasta sauce, potato chips, 2 cans tomatoes, 18 eggs, 1 lb pork, 4 lbs chicken, bundle of chard, 2 lbs strawberries, 1 lb turkey, 1 loaf French bread). I almost forgot, we had Subway for lunch--$10.81.
• Update this blog: yep
• Update client's blog: no, I will do a post tomorrow because we were so busy today
• Photo: yep
• Genealogy: a bit of research on one person 
• Writing: a couple of paragraphs