Washing Machine Woes

He's not into couponing, but my honey deserves some credit for saving our family money this month in another way. . . He fixed our broken washing machine!!

Last month our washing machine started burning a bit, the agitator was sluggish, and the spin cycle wasn't fast enough to spin all the water out, leaving me with sopping wet clothes. Not good for a family with 4 kids, one of whom is a baby who frequently soils her clothes and goes through bibs like nobody's business! It quit on a Saturday, so Ted took the sopping wet clothes (along with 2 other loads while he was at it) to a local laundromat. I called a local repair shop on Monday and they came out on Wednesday and replaced the belt. He said, "If it isn't the belt, then it's the transmission and you might as well buy a new machine." OUCH. We prayed that wasn't the case since our washer is only 6 years old.

By now the laundry was really piling up again, and it was working when the guy left, so I promptly threw in a load. It started the burning smell a little bit, so I called the repair shop again, but the guy had left for the day. The guy I did talk to said that maybe there was some residue that had to finish burning off, and that it was probably fine. It made it through that first load and spun it alright, so I stripped the beds and washed the bedding, doing several loads over the next two days. I was extremely thankful to have a washing machine again, and I was trying to be careful not to overload it.

However, on Saturday morning, while doing a load, it completely stopped. Dead. So this time I took the sopping load (and 2 more while I was at it) to the laundromat. We lamented having to buy a new machine, thinking this one should have had some life left in it. Ted got online and did some research. He didn't think it was the transmission. He proceeded to take the machine completely apart. We figured if we had to buy a new one anyway, we wouldn't be out anything!

Over the next week, he spent several evenings diligently working on the machine. He thought he discovered the problem, the brakes (did you know washing machines had brakes?) and ordered a new one as well as a special tool he needed. We waited for several days for them to arrive, and when they did, he set to work. We prayed a lot and kept our fingers crossed. . . . He took the whole thing apart, fixed it, and put it back together, and it worked! It didn't leak! It didn't burn! And best of all, it washed and spun my clothes!

I'm being very careful with it, only doing small to medium loads, and sometimes I have to lay my hands on it and pray it through the spin cycle, but it works! Bless his heart, I know it was hard work and there were other things he'd rather do with his time, but he's my hero for making my washing machine work again!! Thanks, honey! You win this month, having saved our family probably $400!