Smart Cookie Dad

My washing machine has been making a lot of noise lately. Whenever it does the high speed spinning, it would sound like a tennis ball hitting a drum. So I went to Angie’s List to find a local repair man to check out the machine for me. The repair guy came in today, saw the washing machine and told me immediately, “Yup, seen this problem on this particular model many times. It would cost more to repair then replace”. He didn’t even need to take the machine apart. He confirmed his quick diagnosis 5 minutes later by letting the machine run for a little and hear the noise himself. He said this model’s design is particularly bad so he’s not surprised that it breaks in only 5 years.

You must be asking what kind of machine it is. It’s a Kenmore 3.1 cu. ft. High Efficiency Front Load Washer I bought from Sears about 5 years ago. It’s been running great until now. I did some googling on this model and found that this problem is very common. In fact, I saw a lot of posts mentioned this machine would die in a 4-5 years lifespan. I’m right on the dot. How sad.

I need to shop for a new washing machine now. I’m thinking about getting a LG 3.6 cu. ft. Front Load Washer. I can find a lot of positive posts and it’s cheap (cheaper than most washers). I’ll probably get it. The repair guy recommends a Bosch Front Load Washer. It’s a little too big for my condo. It’s also very expensive. I don’t think I will even consider it.

My Kenmore is still running albeit the noise. I am going to wait until it dies completely before replacing it. 😛

It would be great if someone can recommend a small washing machine (about same size as the Kenmore) that’s under 800 bucks. I don’t want to get the same brand again so don’t even think about recommending buying the same machine again. 🙂

I have been researching DTV converter boxes for a while since I still have a couple tube TVs at home. I found a lot of reviews but it’s still very difficult to decide what to get. There are too many choices. I just want to use my $40 coupon to get a box for free, shipped.

I’ve been holding onto my coupons until I read this thread over at fatwallet. There are online vendors that takes your order with just the coupon and ship you a box for free. No credit card is required. The vendor mentioned in the thread is called freetvsignal. I ordered a couple boxes from them with just my coupons. Sweet, isn’t it? They still have free converter boxes as I write this post.

I’m not going into detail into why I need a converter box. Read this to get yourself familiarized with the whole DTV transition in Feb ’09 if you haven’t heard about it yet.

Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier is the greatest product. We tried some fancy cool mist humidifier that costs over a hundred bucks that doesn’t work quite as well as this product. My son’s skin can get pretty dry when the heat is on so we need a humidifier. Cool mist humidifier tends to be more quiet (and more expensive) but it makes the room feel kinda cold. Although they usually have a warm setting, the mist still feel rather cold. The Vicks produces steam so it adds some warmth to the room. It’s not a very big room (~10’x15′) so this humidifier works very well. Perhaps the steams’ heat helps in creating air circulation in the room to make the humidity more even.

This is cheap so I like this product a lot. I think I bought it for 30 bucks from CVS. This product requires regular cleaning though. I think the water in my area probably has a lot of mineral. There are usually quite a bit of mineral and calcium build-up after couple weeks of usage. They look brownish but they don’t smell, so cleaning it isn’t bad.