We’re having to say goodbye to an intimate old friend of 15 years.
Our washing machine has been on life support for several weeks, and we finally had to pull the plug.
I found the problem by accident. One day when we were looking for a toy that our granddaughter, Kennedy, had lost, I suggested that we move the washer. Along with tumbleweed-sized dust bunnies from the dryer, I discovered a little oil slick underneath it. I scrubbed the floor and called our repairman.
He said it was the gear case going out. It would cost $400 to fix it, but he said this washing machine was the last of the good ones — and with the new part it could last as long as a new one.
We just kept using it; it got louder. Kennedy would dance to the beat of the drum spinning.
One day, I noticed a stain on a shirt. Hmm. Figured it was hamburger grease or something. Then I saw more stains, some big oily-looking ones. I suspected it was coming from the washing machine. My husband, David, said he didn’t think so. (These are our traditional roles: He’s the optimist; I’m the pessimist/realist.)
Maybe I used too much detergent, I thought, trying to justify it.
I called the repair service again and talked to a different guy, but he knew our problem. He said the oil from the gear case was probably “migrating” into the washing machine. I knew it.
He agreed with me that it would be hard to sink $400 into a machine that old.
I needed to make a quick decision after this oil-spill incident started affecting my laundry. My husband and I are not the wait-till-the-pile-touches-the-ceiling-to-wash people. We wash a load or two most days.
That night after dinner, we started the search for a new washer. I looked up the best-rated brands. One thing I said I didn’t want was those low-water, high-efficiency machines.
I have two relatives with those washing machines, and they are not fans. My mother, the best laundress I’ve ever known, has a new high-efficiency washing machine that she says uses “about four teaspoons of water.” And it holds about six items of clothes at once.
We jumped in the car and went shopping, my cellphone in hand to check the ratings.
One store had the best-rated old-fashioned agitator kind, but it had a shiny silver strip across the lid that clearly would be scratched to heck within a few weeks, not to mention the fingerprints we would leave every time we opened the lid.. David suggested we keep a pair of white gloves on the washer and wear them when we used the machine. He’s a hoot.
We finally settled on the top-rated high-efficiency brand WITH a deep-water cycle. It’s hard to know if we’ll like it by looking.
Delivery was going to be almost a week later, so we went to a third store and bought one, which will have been delivered by the time you read this. Old Faithful will have been hauled away, and I hope given a proper burial.
It has served us well, but I can’t wait to take the new one for a spin.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.