Saving $$ on appliances

When we were preparing to move, we decided to bring our washer and dryer with us.   Buying new didn’t fit into the budget at all, they are only 4 years old and I am pretty fond of them; Chuck is, too.  We thought that in fairness to the new owners of our house, we would bring the washer/dryer from the condo back to Upland for them to have which they were fine with.   We were good to go with Plan A.  The weekend we started moving in, Chuck unhooked the appliances to bring back to Upland.  Surprise!  The dryer is a gas dryer.  Our Upland house and dryer are wired for electric.  Never thought to check.  Now what?  Load up the washer/dryer from the condo and take to Upland, and come up with a Plan B on the way.  Grateful for smart phones.  Get on craigslist and see if there are any washer/dryers for sale in our area.  Found one!  Woo hoo!  Turns out it had been posted one hour before I got on the site.  The owner lives near Indianapolis.  Oh.  But wait, he is traveling this afternoon to Daleville to go fishing with his son.  Chuck will drive to Daleville as soon as we get home from Michigan to look these over and purchase.  Oops, forgot to take cash.  Fortunately, the owner will accept a check because we know it won’t bounce.   Now our garage is full of washers and dryers, plus a refrigerator we brought along also to trade with the one in the house (that we also wanted to take to MI).  Are you confused yet?  We were.  

Arriving back in MI with our washer and electric dryer, Chuck is confident that he can run some wiring so that we can use our dryer.  Daughter works for electrical contractor as does a friend.  He comes to look at the situation, takes the numbers back to the office to consult.  Daughter calls that afternoon.  Official recommendation is, “Buy a gas dryer.  It will be cheaper.”  We start the rounds of looking.  Do we buy a set or try to find a dryer that is like the one we have?  We end up at Chuck’s favorite store and find a dryer that is the same as the one we had (only the updated version), so we opt for purchasing just the dryer.  Electric dryer now sitting in garage waiting to be sold on craigslist.  So far, our costs are about the same as they would have been had we left the washer/dryer in the house and bought new ones.  Sigh.  

Small world P.S.  The man who helped us at Chuck’s favorite store was very gracious and knowledgeable.  It turns out that he was a professor at TU from 1970-73…and I had him for a class!!!  I was glad he didn’t remember me because it was a required gen ed class that I hated and I did not do very well in it.  He has been designing kitchens for quite a few years…his other love besides teaching.  You never know who you will bump into, do you?