Biting the bullet.

So, our washer has been on it's own personal death march for the past eight months. In April, right before Burke was born, it decided it no longer wanted to use any setting but delicate and permanent press. Great. Then it decided to quit spinning. Super. Then it decided to trade: it would spin laundry, but badly, and go back to ONLY operating under the permanent press cycle, requiring you to re-spin each friggin' load once or twice if you expected the dryer to get your clothes past damp in less than 80 minutes.

Well, after struggling under this perpetual MOUNTAIN of undone laundry (oh, I think I've forgotten to mention you can only use the LARGE setting, but can only fill the tub up half way with clothes) I am throwing in the towel. I can't take it any longer. And Brian is tired of being out of clean shorts.

I've been lurking on Craig's List and E-Bay for three months, loitering on Consumer Reports to review their recommends, reading reviews on Best Buy, the Home Despot and Lowe's; you know, all the things that you do when you know you need something terribly expensive, but dammit you NEED it. You just can't help but wince at the price tag. Researching has led to some interesting discoveries: did you know that federal regulations on energy efficiency have caused pretty much all top-loading washers made after January 2007 to be terribly green but horribly inefficient? They have to restrict water flow and heat to such extremes to meet these guidelines that they can't effectively do what they used to. Even cheaper front loaders have been having problems (bad door seals, mold, etc). Ah, the things you learn.

While at Lowe's today, we noticed a Samsung front load washer for half price in the scratch and dent section. That's a much more affordable $650 buckaroos. It fulfills all our requirements: front loading for the energy and water efficiency, dials and settings that work, a good review on CR, only a handful of negative reviews at various sites, and a much less painful price.

So, hopefully by tomorrow we'll have a new washer. And a bigger credit card debt. It's the dance of Pain and Pleasure once more.