Sunday, March 2, 2008

What a Trade! (or Simple Amusements)

Thanks to some wonderful suggestions you all made on my backroom plans, I started looking at stackable washers and dryers for our laundry room. I was in research mode; I wanted to see what a nice used stackable set would cost us, and how much we could get for our existing HUGE General Electric washer and dryer.

I searched through Craigslist (I search Craigslist for everything), and discovered a couple that wanted to TRADE their Danby Energy Star efficient, compact, stackable, and front-loading washer and dryer set for a BIG washer and dryer... exactly what we have.

We unhooked our extra larger washer and dryer (It is AMAZING how much dirt and dust collects behind your washer and dryer!), and drove down to Denver to trade.

We just hooked up the new set and popped in a load of whites... it is SO QUIET! I can barely hear it. And, it filled up with a QUARTER of the water that our old washer used. We sat and watched the washer work for 15 minutes... it's quite fun to watch a front loader washing machine work. Simple amusements for simple people.

We haven't used the dryer yet, but I have high hopes. The only negative that I can see to this set is that it is somewhat small... it only holds medium to large loads. That is not a problem for the two of us in our tiny house, luckily.

I can't wait to see what our electric and water bill savings will be. Here's to saving just a little more of the earth AND saving space and money.

9 comments:

Jen said...

Great Find, Swap!!

Anonymous said...

Man. I can't believe *I* didn't think of that great recommendation. Yay for blog readers! And that's awesome that you find a trade on craigslist. Congrats :)

p.s. I've had my roomba for like 4 years, but I still sometimes will just sit and watch it go. It's not simple! Front loading washers, robot vacuums...we're talking about major technological accomplishments here!!

Anonymous said...

That is awesome! I am going to have to start using that site more often, I am always reading about great finds there. :)

Marilyn said...

Congrats, what a great Craigslist success story!

min hus said...

Very cool trade. Craigslist does make it really easy to buy, sell and trade.

I used Craigslist to sell my old furniture when I bought some new stuff. I was AMAZED someone actually wanted to buy my old furniture. It was in far from pristine condition. But I explained all the flaws, priced it cheap and received lots of interest. Craigslist really is cool.

Joanne said...

I love Craigslist! I've used it for everything from buying antique lamps to finding renters to advertising my business. I've never used it for swapping things, though. Maybe I'll post junk I want to get rid of and see what offers come in!

Anonymous said...

Sweet deal! I'm curious as to how you will like the set in about six months. Our washer and dryer are in our kitchena and when we renovate it, we plan to get a stacking unit to save floor and counter space. Would like to see what you recommend.

Jayne said...

I'm a big fan of swaps--and that was a fantastic one! What luck!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jennifer, thanks for visiting our blog :) Craigslist is awesome and stackable washer and dryer rock. I did not know one could trade stuff on Craigslist though, so thanks for mentioning that. My ever-so-wasteful brother and sister in law gave us their humongous 3-year old double oven (yeah, they remodel every 3 years. Talk about insanity). We thought about installing it in our kitchen and decided against it. You have to want to cook a 30 lb turkey on top and 20 lb apple pie on the bottom to have an oven like that. So we took it to Craigslist. We should have traded for something interesting, like a swing for our front yard. Oh well, next time. My brother-in-law's 2-year old 30,000 inch plasma TV is getting too out of date...