Chachuga, chachuga, chachuga, knock, knock, knock. While you might think this was the latest rehearsal for Dancing with the Stars, in reality, it was my washing machine finally giving out. I say finally sort of facetiously, since I still expect appliances to last practically forever.
After my husband examined the machine, bless his handyman’s heart, we deliberated and after some discussion decided to get a new washing machine. We saved a good amount money on the purchase, and in the end, spent only about $18 more than what it would have cost to get a new motor and install it ourselves. The warranty on the new machine was worth at least that.
Establish Basic Needs
We first had to establish the minimum amount of features that we needed. The capacity had to be at least 3.6 and it had to at least have an extra rinse cycle. A top loader would save us money on the price and we were okay with that.
If it had a presoak function, that would be a bonus, but something we could live without, since I could simply open the lid of the machine to manually presoak.
Do the Research
We first took a look online at different stores and different models. That was really overwhelming! So we narrowed it down to two models and did our price matching. We knew which stores had the best availability, warranty, and customer service.
When we hit the first store, we were prepared to walk away if we didn’t get a good deal, since we already knew other stores that were selling the same or similar model. At first, the salesman would not come down on price, because the washer we wanted was already on sale, from $499 to $424. But I persisted. In the end, we got the washer for $377.68 and opted to pick it up ourselves, therefore saving on the $75 delivery charge.