So you know when you go get a pedicure with your mother-in-law, and then randomly buy a new washing machine?
Yeah? Not a common occurrence in your house?
So, last I was off last Tuesday and Troy was staying at home with Jack so I could run errands. I had a bunch to do, plus get an oil change which takes almost 2 hours at the dealer where I bought my car. I'd never wait that long for an oil change, if I hadn't received 13 free ones when I bought my car! In an effort to be efficient, my mother-in-law picked me up from the dealer, and we went to get pedicures with plans to run errands while my oil was being changed.
The pedicure place had a 45 minute wait, so we wandered over to Best Buy to get something for my MIL's phone. I have been looking for a new washer for months, and I always check out any store's clearance section when I happen to find myself in an appliance store. While MIL looked at phone stuff, I headed to the appliance section.
Backstory: we have a fine washer and dryer that works perfectly well. We bought them used for $250 from someone that Troy used to work with. There is absolutely nothing wrong with my washer. However, Troy has terrible allergies, which means I'm washing our king size comforter and duvet every 10 days, plus the special mattress cover we have to use (which I call the nerd guard). With our current washer, it takes me an entire Saturday or Sunday to wash all that stuff in three loads. It all comes out dripping wet, and then I hang it in our sunroom to air dry a bit (during the spring and summer only). Even then, it stills takes hours to dry each piece in the dryer.
With my parent's moving in soon, I knew we'd be doing more laundry, plus my parent's also have king sized bedding. I had no desire to spend my life doing laundry, hence I've been on the lookout for months for a great washer.
At Best Buy, I found an absolutely lovely LG HE toploader model in their clearance section. Original price was $699, and it was marked down to $629. It was further marked down to $524, and then the nice lady who worked in that section offered to give me an additional 10% off since it was a floor model. When all was said and done, it was $512 with taxes, BUT our local energy company is offering a $50 rebate, bringing to price down to $462.
Two weeks ago I won an award at work that came with a $250 cash prize. I plan to sell the old washer for $100 on Craiglist, bringing the actual out of pocket cost of this to $112. The new washer uses half of the water my old one does, plus gets the clothes so dry during the spin cycle, that even when I do use my dryer (I usually hang clothes to dry), it takes half the time. We washer our comforter, nerd guard, and duvet together in 1 load, cutting my laundry AND dryer time.
Phew, that was a long explanation of how I bought a new washer!
Friday, Troy and I were both off, so our little family went to a strawberry farm for u-pick berries! I picked sooooo many, while the boys did this.
If I depended on these two for our existence, we'd all starve to death.
I came home and made easy strawberry jam, and um, ice cream sauce, which I'll share the how to's later this week. Even with all that, we've been eating so many delicious strawberries at every meal. At the farm, I offered to let them weigh Jack before we picked, and after, but they said "child loss" is a common occurrence.
Meal plan time! Reminder, I only plan dinners, because breakfast is always smoothies
or eggs with something, and lunches are always leftovers. We rarely
eat dessert during the week, and our dinner drink of choice is water kefir soda.
Monday:: Trader Joes nitrate-free hot dogs, coleslaw, and a grilled asparagus and onion medley.
Friday:: Popcorn dinner. Yes, seriously we eat popcorn for
dinner. It's popcorn, leftovers, cheese slices, fruit, and cut up
veggies. Everyone gets as much as they want, and no one leaves hungry.
I adore Fridays because it is the easiest night of the week for making
everyone happy!
Saturday:: TBD
Sunday:: Family dinner at my parent's!
I spent about $57 on strawberries, and $8 at the grocery store. Jack and I are headed to Costco later today, and then I'll get milk at the farm on the way home from my parent's. We also got an Azure Standard delivery this week which was about $35 in edible items. We were days away from being out of popcorn (gasp), and I bought a 25 pound bag of organic yellow popcorn to prevent future tragedies.