If it's not the moles, it's something else. Homeowning can really be for the birds, I think.
It does seem like every time I think I'm getting a bit ahead with the old finances, having a bit of extra money to sock away (or pay down what I had to borrow) ... something comes up. This week, it turns out the great anniversary gift for my wife is a new washing machine.
Appliances break, things need maintenance, replacing stuff is part of owning a home. I get all that. Doesn't make it any more fun. The old washer had been making uncomfortable noises for a while now, but you know, it was almost 10 years old. I make uncomfortable noises, too, but I still work. But last Saturday, just as we were finishing up the week's wash ... it was making some uncomfortable noises while it wasn't actually doing anything. I just happened to be in the basement working on the computer when I heard the machine buzz and whine, then stop. But there wasn't any motion, or water running, or washing type things happening.
I knew that was bad. I went into the laundry room to find the smell of a burned-out motor, or belt, or both. Luckily ... luckily! ... the water had drained from the last load, it just hadn't spun out yet. So all things considered, it was probably the best possible part of the wash cycle for it to die.
So, off to find a new washing machine. You know there aren't any appliance stores any more. You have Sears, or Best Buy, or Lowes, or Home Depot. That's about it. Plus, in the old days, you went and looked at machines, and the salesperson told you about them, and you picked one out that had a decent price and good size. Now you check reviews online, and every model has people saying "THIS WASHER SUCKS!" and "Never buy a (brand name) again!" and "This machine tears up my clothes!" Maybe the reviews for the $1300 washers don't say that, but I'll never know. I'm not going to pay $1300 for a washing machine. Ever.
So you finally pick out one that seems to have pretty good ratings, and has a fairly decent price, and you hold your breath and hand over your credit card and you hope you didn't screw up. Because there's only about two companies in the world who actually build washing machines any more, they just stick different brand names on them, so problems people have with one model are problems you'll probably have with another, and nobody builds anything to last very long anymore, and everything has computer chips in them now that can stop working without warning and can never be fixed and ....
Crazy. Crazy buying household appliances anymore. I do not like it. This thing hasn't even been delivered yet, so who knows how long it might take to actually learn how to use it. If it works at all.
Homeownership. What a concept, huh?
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