We have only once had a brand new washer & dryer, when we first moved out here. But now, when appliances break, we usually go to the used appliance store and get a used one. Our washer and dryer are used, the washer is about 4 years old (to us) and we got that from a friend. The dryer is 2 years old (to us) and we bought it used at the appliance store. But it is definitely an older dryer. I know that our washer is slowly going out, but it’s still working, so we are blessed. Our dryer, it’s been dying a slow death. We have had to run it 1 1/2 times for one load to dry for about 6 months now. Then, this past week or so I’ve noticed that no matter how dry our clothes felt when they come out of the dryer, when I pulled them out of the dresser a day or too later they felt damp. It was only a matter of time.
That time came on Friday early evening. I had been doing laundry all day, and I was down to my last load, which was an unusually small load. It ran the first cycle and we put it on the second 1/2 cycle. After that cycle I went to grab the clothes and they were only partially dried. The time had come, the dryer had died. Paul and I talked about it, and felt that it would cost more to get it looked at and fixed than it was worth. So the question was, do we buy another used one or new. We really don’t have the money for either. If we bought new, it would put us in such a financial bind, we just didn’t feel it was worth it. So we decided to buy used again and try to get another year or two out of a used one. But the other problem was that Paul had just gotten off his weekend. We couldn’t figure out when we could go and look at dryers.
Now, I do need to say, we have to do laundry every 2-3 days. We just don’t have lots of clothes or towels to last us a week or so between loads. So I had until Monday before I had to do something, and it was leaning toward me going to a laundromat during the week until his next day off on Thursday. As I always do when something breaks I asked my family if they had an electric dryer they weren’t using. My sister called me Saturday morning saying that she did have one in her garage that was my nephew’s mother-in-laws old dryer. Her washer had broke, so she bought a new set. They were pretty sure that the dryer worked fine and it was ours if we wanted it! What a blessing that was. The only issue now was how to get it.
My family lives over 70 miles away from us, in a very small town. My nephew was gone for the day, so I had no one to load the dryer onto Paul’s pick up truck if I drove out there. I didn’t know what else to do but take Paul’s truck on Sunday, drive out there by myself (the truck is a small truck, only seats 2 comfortably). Have my nephew load the truck, then drive back. I mentioned that to Paul while he was on his break and he didn’t like that idea at all. He hates for me to drive over 140 miles round trip by myself, but truthfully I didn’t know what else to do. My sister & her whole family were going to be gone for the night, so no one could bring it out here. It was either that, or I wait until mid week for one of them to bring it, but again, I would have to use a laundromat. Hubby came home, asked if there was any way we could get into my sister’s house, which we could because my mom was home and she had a key. He decided we would go last night, together, and pick up the dryer so I didn’t have to go by myself. Have I ever said how much I love my husband? Because I really do. He worked a full day, came home and we drove over 140 miles round trip, loaded the dryer, got home after 9:00pm and then he went to work today. But I really am glad I didn’t have to make that trip by myself. I have made it many times by myself, but not with a quick turnaround. Usually I go out in the morning, and don’t head home until the evening. Making the drive, loading a dryer, then making the drive back home is pretty hard. We did sit and visit with my mom for a bit, just to relax before the drive back home. We unloaded the dryer, put it in the garage and called it a night.
We had plans to install it tonight, but I just couldn’t wait. Plus I wanted hubby to have a night he could actually relax, instead of coming home and having to work. So this morning I cleaned up the dryer, which really didn’t need much cleaning. Googled how to put the electrical cord on, which was pretty simple. So I installed that. I had Paulie help me get the dryer into the house and I hooked it all up. Thankfully the door to the garage is in our laundry room, so getting anything from the garage to the laundry room is only getting it up two steps. And as I’m typing this I have my first load of towels drying in the dryer. It seems to be working just fine. The only thing my nephew thought might be wrong with it was that the sensor might not work for the auto dry option. Not a big issue for me, I like that option, but using a timed option is just fine. It is actually very similar to a model we had years ago and it’s a lot quieter than my last dryer.
Because that is an little extra blessing from the Lord. First He blesses us with a free dryer. He blesses us unexpectedly with the gas money to drive 140 miles. And then He blesses me with this, I can turn off the dryer’s buzzer. That is an option the dryer I had when we first moved into this house had, and I used it often. Then that dryer broke and we bought the other dryer, and I never noticed, until we got it home, that it didn’t have that option. I could no longer throw a load of clothes in the dryer and go to bed because that buzzer would go off. We have a small house, and believe me, we all hear the buzzer. I adjusted and but it’s really is something I’ve missed. It’s nothing I asked for or even considered when we talked about a dryer. We got this one sight unseen, so I didn’t know what I was getting until we picked it up. I was so blessed to see that I can once again, turn off the buzzer. And that I can now throw a load in before bed if I want. Such a small thing, but shows how the Lord loves to bless us, even with the small things.
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