Archive for: shopping

It pays to shop around

Our washer has been slowly dying over the last few months but I have been putting off replacing it. But when I got my latest edition of Consumer Reports about washers it spurred me into action. After a lot of research I decided on the washer I wanted and started to look around for the best price. I was a little shocked to find that it retailed at $1,150 – rather more than I anticipated spending – well a lot more actually!

Anyway I searched and searched and put it off a while longer when suddenly Sears decided to put it on sale at $1,050 – a $100 saving – excellent. However I still looked around and then found that Future Shop had it for $799 – a whopping saving. We went into FS and asked about the machine and was told that they did not have any in stock anywhere in the country, but had a lot of other washers…. It seems that the price may be just a ploy to get you into the shop and buy something else – FS are famous for their creative advertising!

Not to be outdone I then saw the washer in Lowes for $998 and asked if they price match. “Yes” the guy said gleefully until I showed him the print off of the FS price and his face fell. “That’s a lot less, I will have to get my boss’s approval.” Off he went. I wasn’t too bothered as I know other shops price match so if they didn’t I would go to Sears.He came back and said yes they would price match and could deliver it tomorrow. This was Sunday and I chose to have it delivered on Tuesday which was okay by them.

So, yesterday my new washer arrived. I had to go out to a meeting so left hubby to deal with the boring stuff like installing it etc. When I got home my gleaming new washer was all set up and waiting to go. Well, I have never been so excited to do a load of washing – how sad! It has lots of buttons and lights and rather than buzzing at the end of the cycle it plays a little tune – wow!

The washing came out great and you can amuse yourself if nothing is on TV as it has a clear top so you can watch it wash. I hasten to add I did not do this – well not for too long anyway!

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This is my new washer the Whirlpool WTW6700W, but mine is while not stainless. I could not justify spending an extra $50 on stainless when it sits in a laundry cupboard.

I have to add that Lowes delivery notification perhaps goes a little too far. The night before delivery we received an automated message, that I nearly put the phone down on thinking it was a spam call stating the washer would be delivered tomorrow. Then five minutes later a human rang to say exactly the same thing. In the morning we received a call to say the delivery would be today. Then the delivery man called to ask for directions. Then another call from a woman stating the washer would be with us in 20-40 minutes. Slight overkill!

Tons of snow and more to come

On Friday we got lots of snow as the weather man promised. When we got up Saturday we had about 7 inches but as there was also lots of wind a lot had drifted so in some areas we had over a foot of the stuff. We decided to go out on Saturday as another big storm was forecast for Sunday and another on Christmas Eve.

We did some grocery shopping and I also wanted to buy some hair curlers. I ended up in Walmart as they had them on sale and I purchased some. When I got home I opened the box and found that the electric cable was all over the place instead of being tied neatly as you would normally find. I then noticed there were no instructions etc in the box. When I looked at the product itself I found lots of long dark hairs wrapped round it – yuk! Talk about turn my stomach – I had been sold a second-hand product. On Monday, once the second storm has passed I will be taking this straight back with a very big complaint. I am furious about this and someone there is going to get an earful from me. Just imagine if this had been a present and I had not checked inside the box first – I doesn’t bare thinking about.

Whilst out I also purchased Animal Crossing: City Folk for my Wii (sealed and definitely new) so I will be playing on this over the weekend.

Anyway, I’ll calm down now and tell you about a new bird we had in our garden. The other day hubby noticed a large flock of birds swoop in but he did not have time to identify them before they flew off. Well, they came back and we managed to get some distant photos of them, but it was enough to identify them. They are cedar waxwings and there were lots of them. Strangely they were accompanied by quite a few robins. They were obviously all together. Here are some pics which are not very good due to the distance.

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We also spotted a meadow vole the other night. We knew we had them in the area as they tunnel under the snow and leave trails which you can see when the snow start to thaw. The other night was the first time we had seen them but it was too dark to get a photo.

Speaking of photos, I bought hubby a new camera for Christmas and these are some pics he took yesterday of chickadees.

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And this one looks like he has had a bad hair day!

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