When it comes to laundry, I am lazy. At any given time, we will have a basket of clean clothes, yet to be folded and/or at least one basket of dirty clothes. (Realistically, it is all of the above.)
Sure, laundry is a chore. And even with my machines, I find ways to be even lazier about it. I wash everything in cold water on the delicate cycle. Occasionally, if I have a load of just towels and/or bed linens, I'll switch to a warmer wash cycle. This is partly because the cold wash saves money, but also saves me from having to separate the laundry, and then expending precious brain cells to re-set the controls on the machine. I also dry everything on low-heat, taking care to remove the "dry flat" items before starting the washer.
We were walking around a home improvement store the other weekend, and came across their dented/damaged/opened box appliances. Saw an eco-friendly (labelled as such on the unit) steam dryer, super fancy, marked down from about $1000 to $300. With our holiday gift cards burning a hole in our pocket, we stopped in our tracks. We didn't have enough to cover the dryer, but enough to make it an even better deal.
This dryer was seducing me. We looked at it, saw a few scratches that were cosmetic, and walked away to give ourselves time to think. By the time we had made it back to the dryer, we'd more or less decided that while yes, this was a great price... it wasn't a good deal for us. I hardly use the features on my current dryer, which works fine, by the way. So, that is two strikes against super-fancy-new-dryer. The other reasons for not buying it? Didn't have the cash available to make the difference between gift cards and price. And, steam dryers need water in and a water out connections. We didn't know if our set up had the capability, or if we had the ability to install it. All in all, this added up to a great price that wasn't a good deal for us.
That trip, we had fun walking around, and discussing plans, but ended up not buying anything. Just ideas. I don't regret not buying the dryer in the least.
Do you have any good "walked away from it" purchase stories?
2 comments:
What would you do if you couldn't afford to use your present dryer? Line dry or hanger dry. If there are only two of you I expect you could do that quite easily. In the summer I dry clothes for four outside and in the winter for four inside on a couple of old fashioned airers in the spare bedroom.
As for things I didn't buy. I spent some time in India 20+ years ago and was asked if I used coconut oil in my hair. When I said no, it wasn't because I had made a decision not to, or it was a martyr like plan, it was because it had never occurred to me. I suppose it was a cultural thing. My mother didn't, so I didn't. It applies to drying and hair care.
Margaret - if it was a matter of our dryer breaking right now, and not being able to afford to fix/replace it, we might try our hand at freecycle or craigslist to get a replacement on the cheap. If I am honest with myself, and you, then finding a way to replace it and use a dryer will be attempted first. A laundromat may be our next try.
If it is a matter of electricity, and we can no longer afford to pay the electric bill, I can think of a few places in our garage where we could hang a line or two for winter drying. I would also be thankful that the majority of our backyard gets full sun for outside line-drying.
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