The Final Appliance

When one moves into a new house, one expects to eventually replace a few things in said house (which usually isn’t brand new). Over the course of the past 34 months in which we’ve lived in this house, we have replaced every appliance except for one. First went the washer and dryer (the washer didn’t technically break, but it did take about 30 minutes to fill up with water before the load could start). Then we decided to replace the stove, which was filthy and looked like it was from the 70s. We actually found tons of peanut shells under the top of the stove when moving it out of the house. Next came the hot water heater and sump pump, which broke when we were in Bangladesh. The biggest blow was struck this fall when our boiler kicked the bucket the first week we turned it on. Big bucks to replace that one.

We were hopeful that the boiler would be the last major house purchase. Sadly, several weeks ago, the dishwasher died. Sigh. So close to moving out….so hopeful it would last just a few more months. We hand-washed dishes for awhile and tried to employ various friends and family members to help fix the problem, to no avail. So this weekend when Eric’s parents were in town, we found a dishwasher on Craig’s list for $50. Score! Our cheapest fix yet. Eric and his dad picked it up from some guy living in a trailer park who had just lost his job and was selling off his possessions to pay for his tobacco habit (I guess he and his son were rolling cigarettes when Eric showed up). The dishwasher was still attached to all its electrical and water attachments, and there were still dishes in it. A strange experience.

So, back it came to our house, where Eric and Tim removed the old dishwasher. It was almost worth it to have the dishwasher break on us when we discovered, amongst the dirt and an old roach hotel, $1.21 and a golf ball. That brings the cost of our new dishwasher down to at least $47.79 (if you figure the golf ball was about a buck). What’s left in our house to replace, you ask? Only the refrigerator remains. Our fingers are crossed. Just think how whoever buys our home is going to get such a great set of new appliances...