I know this is a crazy-long post, so get a cup of coffee and settle in…
We certainly got a lot accomplished this weekend. On Thursday evening, we had a meeting with our mortgage specialist. We have been wanting to get our finances in order and we wanted to consolidate some of our debts (line of credit, credit cards, etc.) with our mortgage to decrease the amount of interest we pay. We’re planning for the future and when we have a baby, I’ll have a reduced income. Since we only owe $90,000 on our house, we definitely have some equity in it since I’m sure it’s worth at least $160,000 now, if not more with all the upgrades we’ve been doing. Long story short, we increased our mortgage amount to cover all our other debts, but we still had some equity in our house, so we also applied for the HomeLine plan, which is basically a line of credit at prime interest rate for the amount of 80% of the value of our house minus our current mortgage balance. So, in the beginning, we’ll only have a $7,000 line of credit, but as we pay off our mortgage, the line of credit amount will increase. Of course, you only pay for the amount that you actually use. So, if we don’t use any of the line of credit, we pay nothing. It’s just a safety net incase we ever need it. And the line of credit will always be at prime, which is an amazing rate to get a loan at. We’ll never need to get another loan from the bank or anything. We’re quite pleased! When we calculated the amount of interest we are currently paying on my line of credit and CT’s credit cards, it’s over $300 a month. Which is crazy! The increase to our mortgage increased our payments by $200 per month, so we’ll still be further ahead and we’ll have all credit card debt and my current line of credit balance paid off. It was a very successful meeting! We still have to wait to find out whether we’re approved for the HomeLine plan, but I don’t think it will be a problem.
Friday, we went to CT’s parents house for easter dinner. Since they are Catholic, they don’t eat meat on Good Friday, so we had a seafood feast instead. Which is fine by me! We had 3 different kinds of shrimp, salmon, crab legs, salad, etc. It was amazing!
Friday evening, we did our tax return and we are expecting a refund of approximately $1,500, which is amazing! That gave us a budget when we went washer/dryer shopping on Saturday.
Saturday morning, we bought tickets to go see WEE Monday night Raw at the ACC in May. We got floor seats, 11th row! So, we could be right in the action if the wrestlers come out into the crowd like they sometimes do. I’m so excited!
Saturday, we went to 8 different places looking at washer/dryers. Right from the beginning, every place we went recommended the same set as a good mid-range in terms of price with excellent quality (Whirlpool Duet Sport). So, we knew that’s the one we wanted. Some sets were well over $2,000, so those were definitely too much. Leons was having an amazing sale on the set we wanted, but we ended up getting it another place that CT does the ads for and has connections with. They matched Leons price and had free delivery and removal of our old appliances (we were only getting rid of our dryer, the washer we are keeping for my brother when he moves out since it still works fine). They delivered the set this morning and we can use it starting tomorrow (I guess it needs to ‘rest’ for 24 hours after it’s moved before you can use it). And with taxes and everything, it only ended up being $30 more than our tax refund, so we did well!
The washer is 3.4 cubic feet I think and the dryer is 6.7. Since the washer is front load, it uses A LOT less water and energy than topload, which I guess is why you don’t have to pay PST. The government’s little incentive to buy energy star. I love the set and I can’t wait to use them! Front load washers also spin the clothes faster (over 1,000 rpm), so the clothes come out already somewhat dry, which reduces the drying time. The dryer has a moisture sensor, so it will stop when the clothes are dry. It also has a feature that will tumble the clothes without heat every once in awhile for up to 90 minutes after the clothes are dry to prevent wrinkles if you’re not down there right away to unload. That has to be one of my favourite features. I’m always playing the game of trying to time it just right so I can take the clothes out right when they’re done so they don’t wrinkle. With this set, I don’t have to worry about that, I have an extra 90 minutes to get down there.
One thing I did notice with front loads is some people buy the pedestals to raise them up, but that would have been an extra $300! So, my dad is going to build us a little platform to put them on so they are at a better height for loading and unloading.
I am very pleased with our purchase since we really did our comparison shopping and I know Whirlpool is a great name. And we got an amazing deal.
Sunday, we had the easter dinner and easter egg hunt with my family. Loads of fun, as usual!
So, it was a really great weekend!
5 comments:
Glad the washer/dryer buying was a success! Are you planning your laundry for tomorrow?? LOL
Did you get a coloured set, or white? I want details, so I can live (or do laundry) vicariously through you... ;)
Yes, I am definitely going to do a load tomorrow! I can't believe I'm actually excited about laundry ;)
The set we got is white. They do have some sets that are coloured, but they were all more than $2,000, so out of our price range.
White's a classic colour. I keep thinking if I were to get a red washer and dryer that it would not only go out of style, but I would grow to hate it after a couple of months.
White is always good. :)
Ya, white is classic.
And the washer and dryer are going to look like a robot face ;)
I like the robot face ones. Though, to me, the robot face looks sad. :(
Happy laundering! :D
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