So, What Did We Buy?

Elizabeth at Suburban Wife’s Daily Dollar Diary asked me to reveal what appliances we chose in my post yesterday discussing my latest purchases for the house. Thanks, Elizabeth, I think that is a good idea. Here are the appliances we decided to purchase this weekend after considerable thought and research.

Refrigerator

OK, so I wanted a Sub-Zero or a Viking but that just wasn’t gonna happen, except maybe in my dreams. Setting aside those champagne wishes we started seriously looking at the GE Profile 25.5 Cu. Ft. French Door Bottom Freezer model. I liked the layout of the fridge (especially the large deli drawer) and the fact that it had separate compressors for each section. The best price I could find was $2295 which was a little pricey for us. It included things we didn’t particularly feel was necessary like water/ice through the door. But the rest of my appliances are GE Profile so the styling and stainless would match if I got this fridge. Again, matching my other appliances was nice but far from critical.

Samsung Fridge After discovering that Samsung actually made that fridge and that the GE Profile version was only slightly different, we started looking at the Samsung models. We found a fridge with the exact same layout but without the water and ice in the door (it has an icemaker in the freezer). The Samsung 25.8 Cu. Ft. French Door Bottom Mount Freezer was $1594. We decided that the GE labeling/styling and the ice/water in the door were not worth the extra $701 dollars it would take to get them and we went with the cheaper Samsung.

I feel our frugal side triumphed in this purchase. We decided to pass on the features that would have been nice but weren’t requirements. This helped us save a lot of money while still getting a nice stainless steel fridge. The kitchen is so important to me that I’m surprised I was able to pass up the “best” for what simply fit our needs.

Washer/Dryer

Our current washer and dryer still run but we knew we needed to move to larger front-loading models. I have to wash pet beds frequently and the agitator in my current washer makes it very difficult. We wanted to make the jump to front loaders to make my large laundry loads easier.

I went into looking for these appliances with no preconceived notions of what I wanted so I started searching Consumer Reports first. From there I learned what features to look for. Based on the ratings and reviews the LG TROMM Steam washer and dryer seemed like a good set for me. I liked the idea of being able to sanitize cat beds with steam in the wash. The latest model washer runs about $1359 in blue.

I did a bit more investigation and found that the previous version of the TROMM washer was basically the same model except it had a slightly slower max spin speed and it didn’t have the trilingual LCD screen. I didn’t think those things were worth paying the extra money for so I set my sights on the previous version. Now I had to decide color.

LG TROMM Washer I must admit that the shiny red option beckoned to me. It was a sparkly candy apple red and it seemed to make laundry less boring. I was really leaning toward it, despite it costing $200 more. It took Eric to snap me out of the red daze though. Eric said the extra money it would cost to get the red wouldn’t be worth it and after a few weeks those shiny red units would still just be my washer and dryer. He then reminded me that the laundry room was closed off and I would never even see them. I had also read that the cherry color didn’t come with a porcelain top like the white did so that was that. I swallowed my irrational desire for the pretty shiny version and got the previous model in standard white for $1104.99.

As for the dryer we got the matching version in gas. We feel gas is far cheaper than electricity so we want to stick with it even though the gas model is more expensive initially. Also, every appliance we got is Energy Star qualified. That was an important factor. We wanted to make sure everything we purchased was energy efficient and was something that was built to last. Not only is that good for our wallets but it is good for the environment.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed, get the posts via email, read more about the blog in our about page, or browse our archives. Thanks for visiting!

Big Purchases Need Big Research

I’ll take the white one, please This weekend Eric and I made some rather large purchases for the new home. We purchased a refrigerator and a washer and dryer. After about a week of researching and kicking tires we finally felt ready to buy.

Big purchases shouldn’t be made haphazardly. For me, there is definitely a correlation on how much money I’m about to spend and how much research I need to do to feel confident that I’m getting the right product at the right price. When thousands of dollars are involved you can bet that I’m going to try to be as knowledgeable as I can so I make the best decisions.

Here is the process I followed to help me figure out what I wanted and where to buy it:

1. Narrow the field. First, I developed a general idea of what I wanted. We currently have an old side-by-side refrigerator and it frustrates me that I can’t fit a pizza box or other large items in the freezer. It was time for a new style. After looking at fridges in person and learning about the pros and cons of the different configurations I felt a bottom freezer was a good choice for us. I liked the look and functionality of the french door/bottom freezer style best so I focused my search on that.

2. Research the brands and models. I started comparing the various brands/models online. This helped me compile and prioritize my preferences. To help me determine the top performers for my style I decided to sign up for Consumer Reports online. It costs money to subscribe, but having access to that information can be very valuable when making large durable good purchases. I was able to read the ratings and reviews and learned what to look for in a fridge of this type. Many of the models I considered hadn’t been tested by Consumer Reports yet but by reading reviews on other models I could get a feel for that brand’s overall performance. After doing plenty of research online I picked a few models that I wanted to get to know better in person.

3. Know your prices. With printouts of our favorite models in hand, we drove to the stores that carried the brands we were considering. We took careful notes of the model numbers, prices, discounts, price-match policies, and financing offers available in each store. We made sure to avoid the sales pitches and left without buying anything. We knew we needed to go home and compare the sales carefully to figure out who really had the best deal.

4. Go after the deal. After comparing the deals we decided that Best Buy came out ahead. They offered to price match the best deal we could find (including prices found up to 30 days after the sale), free delivery and installation, and 18 months no-interest financing. Most of the stores did price matching and had some sort of no-interest financing but Best Buy also had a rewards program that would give us about $85 back on the purchase. The other stores couldn’t beat that. The next day we approached the appliance supervisor, showed him the competition’s prices, and got the deal we were after. He kept saying that I “drive a hard bargain” but really I didn’t. I only made an educated purchase that gave me the best deal possible for what I wanted.

Now I’m sure you are wondering why we went back into debt by financing it instead of paying cash. I don’t like the fact that we have a balance on a store card of all things but this will allow us to continue to make interest on the money over the next 18 months. We set up automatic payments so we don’t miss any then set up notifications two months prior to the balance being due so we can pay it off in full. We have done this before and never had a problem with it. The important thing is that we didn’t use credit to buy something we couldn’t afford. We have that money already sitting in the bank so we might as well earn some interest on it as long as the rate on the card is at 0%.

Image Source: SqueakyMarmot

Ahh, How I’ve Missed Consumerism…

A new religion, you say? One of the ways we’ve managed to keep to our budget so well was that we steered clear of temptation. The last couple of months we didn’t go out to eat often to avoid spending too much there, and we didn’t go shopping anywhere except the grocery store (and then, with a specific list). We also just about stopped watching TV entirely so we didn’t see commercials for products.

Well, now that we are getting ever closer to moving in, we’ve had to go shopping. I have to say, it was pretty damn shocking! Having avoided shopping successfully for about the last 6 months, we hit several electronic stores, appliance stores, and the mall today in one fell swoop.

I had forgotten how overstimulating the stores were. The loud music, large numbers of people, bright lights, obnoxious signage, and just all around too much!

To make it that much worse, it’s less than a week until the busiest shopping day of the year. Black Friday. I went shopping on Black Friday once. Once. It was an absolutely awful experience. It was nothing like today, but I can see the beginning of the buildup.

The Christmas decorations are everywhere. Don’t get me wrong - I like Christmas just fine. But it’s just so overdone at the stores. Lights, displays, animated talking Santas, you name it!

There was a Sony PS3 truck playing very loud rap music in front of Fry’s Electronics. It was crazy! This huge semi trailer had big screen TVs and PS3 boxes all over it. I used to be a big gamer, so it was pretty tempting for me, but the way too loud rap music kept me away. The only thing that could have made this more obnoxious would be a group of bikini clad women shooting t-shirts at people with air guns (this isn’t a too uncommon tactic at big gaming conventions).

Luckily, we went in with a mission and avoided most of the temptations at the stores. We didn’t buy a single thing. We stuck to our commitment just to price the things we knew we wanted, and to compare the models that we were considering. We’ve done most of our comparison online, and have checked things out with Consumer Reports, but you really have to go in and see these things in person. Or at least we do. We measured, poked, prodded, flipped switches, and compared colors in person on refrigerators and washer/dryer combinations.

After all the insanity of today, I think I just need to sit back, relax, and enjoy the silence. I’ll finish my comparisons tomorrow after I get my chance to decompress.

Image Source: roland

Moving Is Helping Us Simplify

Definitely Goodwill We’re excited about moving and have been packing in anticipation. It’s a lot of work, but it’s actually been pretty enjoyable. We’re being very critical of what we decide to keep.

Melissa and I have been part “pack rat” in the past. I think some of this is just part of being human. It’s not like humans always had easy access to whatever we needed historically. That’s a much more modern invention. For centuries, we’ve had to make do with what we had and reuse and store literally everything. You never knew when you might need something, and it’s not as though you could go to the convenient 24-hour Walgreens down the street when that time came. Those who were prepared fared better than those that didn’t. It’s just a leftover ancient human survival mechanism.

So now we’ve been going through each item, and talking about it. We have 4 piles we’re using:

Keep - something we feel strongly about keeping.
Donate - something of sufficient quality and something we think someone could put to good use.
Gifts - we have several items that would make good gifts. We have a pretty good pile for our neighbors, and some for family.
Sell - items we think we can easily sell and help fund part of the move.

We’re definitely leaning more toward the “donate” pile. We do intend to write our donations off, but it’s more about giving than it is about the benefit to us. I’d really like to think that some of the items we’re donating will improve someone’s life.

Each time we talk about an item, we go through a little list :

Is this sentimental in nature? We’re trying to be really honest here. It has to have a true sentimental value to be kept.
Do I really need this? If no, it goes straight into one of the donate, gifts, or sell piles. If yes, we continue.
Am I really going to use this? And we don’t allow “well, if” situations to take too much control. You either have a good reason or you don’t.
If it’s been in storage for X months, do you really need it? It’s surprising how often this makes you realize you can easily live without something.

A big key for us was to not let ourselves get too stuck on the “what ifs” or the “well ifs”. Well, I might need that USB hub. No, I don’t. I have 4 USB ports, and only 2 items that need USB. There will never be a critical need for a USB hub. That goes directly to Goodwill.

Another thing we’ve noticed about ourselves is that we don’t really rewatch many movies now. In the past, when we watched more TV, we might consider rewatching a movie. Now, we hardly ever have the TV on, and the movies sit and collect dust. We’d rather donate, give those away, or sell them. They just take up room.

It’s a great feeling. I think the whole concept of simplifying your life needs more coverage, but maybe in another post. Right now we’re happy to just be reducing what we have, and hopefully helping other people in the process.

Picture by janetmck

Work Those OTHER Benefits: Discounts And Freebies

I’ll take that! Employer benefits like freebies and discounts can help keep your household spending down. These little perks can add up to big savings or can even amount to an “upgrade” in lifestyle depending on what you are offered.

Eric gets unlimited sodas and bottled water at work free while he is in the office. He also gets free popcorn. That has come in handy. If he gets hungry he has the option to get popcorn instead of paying for vending machine candy. Those savings can add up.

You might be surprised at how much of an impact you can make on your bottom line by taking advantage of these “fringe” benefits. Make sure to ask if you have any of these programs or perks offered to you; it could help out your budget.

Family Care - Some companies offer adoption assistance, substance abuse referrals, and marriage counseling. All of these benefits can help save you money if you take advantage of them.

Personal Development - Has your company been holding any free seminars lately? Do you have access to free legal assistance or free sessions with a financial planner? Those services aren’t cheap so take advantage of any help you might be able to get.

Wellness Care - Do you have wellness care available to you? Sometimes employers will provide wellness care such as free health screening, flu shots, and healthy living seminars. Free health screening can help save money in co-pays down the line.

Casual Dress Days - Dress down if you can. This helps you save on the costs of cleaning your most high maintenance and costly clothing. Take advantage of casual days. I think dress code flexibility is an important cost saving benefit.

Telecommuting - Do you have the option to work from home occasionally? This can save on your commuting costs, especially if you have a long commute. Along the same lines - if you have flexible hours try to use them to avoid traffic. That will save on frustration and gas costs.

On-Site Amenities - If you are lucky enough to have cheap (or discounted) on-site amenities consider yourself fortunate. Maybe you have access to a gym, pool, cafeteria, showers, or laundry facilities. If these services are free or offered at a nice discount this could save a lot of cash or could even allow you to enjoy luxuries you wouldn’t otherwise pay for. One of my old employers had an onsite gym, pool, cafeteria, dry cleaner, and daycare all at discount rates. Too bad I was a traveling consultant and didn’t live near campus.

Free Stuff - Is there free stuff for you at the office? I’m not talking office supplies; I mean legitimately free stuff actually provided for you to take. Free sodas, gourmet coffee, or snacks? How about a Beer Friday? Use these freebies instead of buying similar items. Do they give out shirts with their logo? Take them! Half of Eric’s wardrobe is employer-branded and it helps us save on clothing costs.

Discounts - Discounts on items you already use can really help, especially if they are substantial. Can you get the product or service your company provides or works with cheaply? For instance, if you work at a coffee shop can you get your coffee at a deep discount? Do you get discounts with major retailers? Many employers have special rates set up for car rentals, gyms, cell phone providers, hotels, apartments, even for purchasing cars or getting a mortgage. Look into it!

Miscellaneous Benefits - Some employers offer other benefits like credit score monitoring programs and access to credit unions.

Think it can’t get much better? Check out the benefits Google gives its employees. Caution: be prepared to become immediately dissatisfied with your benefits. See Google’s awesome perks here.

Do you get any unusual or especially helpful benefits for your job? If so, comment and let us know!

Image Source: rahims

← Previous Page — Next Page →