Appliances and the large family
I have thought of another thing that could be considered a negative for having a large family. The very much shortened life span of appliances. I have decided that there is planned obsolescence built-in to appliances and that after so many uses, they just break regardless of how old they are. And if you have many children the appliances get used a lot more than in a smaller family.
I don't think we are particularly hard on our appliances. We try to treat them with respect and not abuse them, but we do use them a lot. But even with respect, they are dropping like flies. Plus they must have all gotten together at some time late at night and made some type of suicide pact with each other because it is looking as though they are all going to go belly up at the same time.
The details? Two days ago the washer stopped working. It won't spin. Of course the only way to find this out is to go down to the basement to move the laundry to the dryer only to discover very wet clothes inside the washer. This would also be the washer that has a leak so that J., in order to prolong it's life a little longer, has jury rigged and truly extraordinary water-diversion system to keep the motor dry and the washer running. The dishwashers (yes, that would be two of them) are not really washers any longer so much as very fancy dish dryers. They have not washed a dirty dish in months, but yet I still load them up and run them using vinegar for the disinfecting properties and to dry them. The vacuum quit a little bit ago, so in desperation to do something about the rugs and carpets, we bought a very inexpensive one. Well, you get what you pay for, since I have had to put the belt on its track twice now. I can just tell it will have the appliance life expectancy equivalent to a fruit fly. The freezer door handle is looking really, really iffy. As in, the next time someone opens it to get something it will come off in their hands. I'm not sure how we'll open the freezer at that point and J. cannot figure out how the company expects the handle to be replaced. It looks as thought the entire freezer will need to be dismantled in order to do so. The toilet handle in the children's bathroom, where it attaches to the mechanism inside the tank snapper off yesterday. J. was able to fix that with some of M.'s Gorilla Glue. (That girl loves all sorts of glue and has quite a collection.) And somewhere around the boiler there was a leak that J. stopped, but still needs to be really fixed.
I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry.
But how's this for an offer?
Hey, appliance manufacturers! You say your products are heavy-duty with a long life, but I can't tell you the last time I have actually believed that statement. Why don't you send me some models of your strongest appliances to try out and I'll let you know if they're really heavy-duty or not. And if they are, I will praise your product all over this blog? If your appliances can survive in my home with our built-in heavy use for a reasonable length of time, I think then you can truly say they are 'heavy duty'. What have you got to lose?
And I could really use a washing machine and dishwasher. Oh, and a vacuum.
And the hole in the ceiling fixed wouldn't be bad either.
I don't think we are particularly hard on our appliances. We try to treat them with respect and not abuse them, but we do use them a lot. But even with respect, they are dropping like flies. Plus they must have all gotten together at some time late at night and made some type of suicide pact with each other because it is looking as though they are all going to go belly up at the same time.
The details? Two days ago the washer stopped working. It won't spin. Of course the only way to find this out is to go down to the basement to move the laundry to the dryer only to discover very wet clothes inside the washer. This would also be the washer that has a leak so that J., in order to prolong it's life a little longer, has jury rigged and truly extraordinary water-diversion system to keep the motor dry and the washer running. The dishwashers (yes, that would be two of them) are not really washers any longer so much as very fancy dish dryers. They have not washed a dirty dish in months, but yet I still load them up and run them using vinegar for the disinfecting properties and to dry them. The vacuum quit a little bit ago, so in desperation to do something about the rugs and carpets, we bought a very inexpensive one. Well, you get what you pay for, since I have had to put the belt on its track twice now. I can just tell it will have the appliance life expectancy equivalent to a fruit fly. The freezer door handle is looking really, really iffy. As in, the next time someone opens it to get something it will come off in their hands. I'm not sure how we'll open the freezer at that point and J. cannot figure out how the company expects the handle to be replaced. It looks as thought the entire freezer will need to be dismantled in order to do so. The toilet handle in the children's bathroom, where it attaches to the mechanism inside the tank snapper off yesterday. J. was able to fix that with some of M.'s Gorilla Glue. (That girl loves all sorts of glue and has quite a collection.) And somewhere around the boiler there was a leak that J. stopped, but still needs to be really fixed.
I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry.
But how's this for an offer?
Hey, appliance manufacturers! You say your products are heavy-duty with a long life, but I can't tell you the last time I have actually believed that statement. Why don't you send me some models of your strongest appliances to try out and I'll let you know if they're really heavy-duty or not. And if they are, I will praise your product all over this blog? If your appliances can survive in my home with our built-in heavy use for a reasonable length of time, I think then you can truly say they are 'heavy duty'. What have you got to lose?
And I could really use a washing machine and dishwasher. Oh, and a vacuum.
And the hole in the ceiling fixed wouldn't be bad either.
Comments