Thrifty Spending?

It's suppose to be Thrifty Thursday so why in the heck am I writing about spending?
Because sometimes you have to; spend that is. I wish I had a picture of our washing machine to show you, but you'll just have to imagine with me. Until Monday Matt and I were the not so proud owners of a pea green circa 1972 washing machine. Now don't get me wrong this machine was stylin' in its day, sadly that day has gone... long gone. Now trust me, Matt and I did not go about the deciion to buy a new washer lightly. In fact we've put it off for about six months. At this point the agitator wasn't really agitating and if clothes were left inside for any period of time rust spots would form, much to the dismay of my wardrobe. It was time to say goodbye.

I figured we'd head over to ABC warehouse or Best Buy and pick ourselves up a nice $200 replacement; of course I was wrong (this seems to happen a lot lately). I was about $200 wrong to be exact. The cheapest units we could find ran anywhere from $350 to $500 for the most basic model! And as you can probably guess I was not going to pay that much. I even spent sometime on craigslist looking for a nice used washer, but even they were 10 to 12 years old with a $200 price tag. Plus we don't have a truck to pick it up with meaning another expense (about $50 for delivery).

At this point I was seriously starting to panic thinking that I would end up doing laundry on a washboard in the bath tub. Then finally just as I'm about to give up I see a an ad online with a five year old machine for $95 including delivery. I figured it had to be wrong or a piece of junk, but much to my surprise the washer is great. The seller is a repair man who takes old appliances and fixes them for resale. This particular model had the door latch replaced and then a full inspection before delivery. And best of all if anything should happen to it in the next little bit we'll be able to call him for repairs.

The next time you're looking for an appliance this is one method I suggest. Just look in the phone book under Repair Man. Even when you have to spend on something large you can find a way to be frugal about it.