Sunday, March 14, 2010

Appliphobia

Appliphobia: noun. The fear of appliance shopping.

Take a little time traveling trip with me to about 4 years ago. Husband and I bought our very first house and moved in with Philosopher Child. Viking Toddler was not around yet. I'm psyched because our house came with a dishwasher and washing machine, and for a small amount we got the dryer, too. The hot water heater was another story. It was a rental sort of deal that the previous owners had, and we could not convince the owning company that we didn't want the thing. We wanted to buy our own. But you know they kept billing us anyway? We, who never had a contract with them for an appliance we didn't want? But as usual, I digress. You've probably picked up by now that I do that. (Oh, by the way, we eventually won and they took the hot water heater back.)

Anyway, about two years in, the washing machine needed replacing, and we saw signs that the dryer wouldn't be far behind, so we bought a set. Front loaders. Pretty. We couldn't find too many reviews at the time, but we were pretty satisfied with what we chose.

And then the dryer arrived. Broken. Had to have a repairman come to fix it. But, ok, things happen, right? Nobody's fault. All fixed, no biggie.

But then we realized some things about the washer. Bad things. Horrible things. First off, do you remember the bleach incident? That's the tip of the iceberg with this out of warranty but still recently new washing machine. It is off balance constantly. It tumbles in a way that pant legs and sheets get all twisted and knotted. And it rips tiny holes in the clothes. That's right. And there's not a single thing we can do about it. We shelled out a pretty penny for that thing, and we are stuck with it for quite some time.

But now, we need a new dishwasher. I'm scared.

7 comments:

Sarah Winehouse said...

Nice blog! I like learning new words. I just started my blog about food health wine and chocolate www.sarahvino.blogspot.com if you're interested! Cheers :)

Kristina said...

Sarah, because irony and sarcasm doesn't translate across the internet, let me say...you know I made up that word, right?

FineLilGentlemen said...

Grrr! Ripped Clothes and out a whole lotta pennies is NO fun for anyone...I understand your "fears" though. Ohio is starting their "cash for appliances" March 26th and I am "supposed" to be looking for a new fridge. I go to Lowe's stare at the 4000 fridges, get frustrated, then go home:)

Kristina said...

Ugh! I'm totally with you! We can't even go to our Lowes because it has what Husband calls "the stalker salesman." I think you know what I mean. So we are down to Home Depot or Sears. There's a Maytag at Home Depot that I'm eyeing. Got good reviews. Fingers crossed.

Purple Cow said...

I, like you, am an appliphobic...and if there's a lemon out there to be chosen, I'm sure I'll be the one who picks it.
Maybe you should give brands so that we know what to avoid.

VickiSue said...

I so enjoy reading your blog, it takes me right back to those days with my 2 sproutlings (1 girl,1 boy). Now I am in my 50's, and blogging about my adventures of country life and other ramblings. Thanks again :) washingmachinethoughts.blogspot.com

Kristina said...

Thanks for the comments! The washer/dryer brand is GE. I'm not *positive* that the clothes ripping is the washer's fault, but upon using google, I find I'm not the only one with a GE and this problem. Maybe they've fixed it by now.