appliances posts

The dust of Black Friday has settled and with limited quantities now sold out, shoppers have a second chance to score savings on Cyber Monday sales. Rather than promoting specific deals this year we are seeing broad savings across entire categories such as books, jewelry, luxury goods, laptops, HDTVs, eyewear and more.

Here are a collection of Cyber Monday deals to help you finish up your holiday shopping.

Borders Cyber Monday specials:

• Buy-one-get-one 60% off (Online and in store)
• 50% off priority shipping
• Free standard shipping on orders over $10.

Seasoned Black Friday shoppers know that the best way to save during this all-important shopping day is to plot out a course of action ahead of time. That means knowing what you want and where to get it -- at the lowest possible price, of course.

Such planning entails scouring the Black Friday ads and comparing prices and selection. To help ease the load, WalletPop has done some of the legwork for you. We've combed through the ads that have been released so far and dug up the best deals on everything from high-definition TVs and Blu-ray players to tools and sweaters.

The Best Buy Black Friday ad has leaked out and offers price cuts on many items including appliances (sorry no $3 toasters) and other electronics like video games, HDTVs and laptops.

Most often, when searching for Black Friday deals, you don't think to look at major appliances. But this year Best Buy has 20-50% off many appliances, including a new Samsung washer and dryer set at half price. Other appliance discounts include refrigerators, Dyson vacuums and more.

Another Black Friday bargain at Best Buy is video games, specifically just released games and console bundles.

This year, you got paid for tossing out the clunker car. Next year, you'll be rewarded for getting rid of the energy-inefficient washer or fridge. Many states will be sponsoring a "Cash for Appliances" program, similar to "Cash for Clunkers" in that you'll be paid for doing a big spring cleaning of your old appliances and buying those labeled with the Energy Star seal.

This is part of the federal government's economic stimulus plan -- it set aside $300 million in rebates for buying energy-efficient products, and state governments had to send detailed plans to Washington by earlier this month to explain how they would give that money away. So unlike Cash for Clunkers, each state is in charge of its own Cash for Appliances program.

California, for example, will focus on rebates for just three standard appliances. It will give $100 for the purchase of an Energy Star-approved clothes washer, $75 for a refrigerator and $50 for a room air-conditioner. Those rebates are in addition to any additional rebates offered by the state utility company supplying your electricity and the appliance manufacturer you buy from. The program is supposed to start in early spring.

Many a customer has probably faced a dizzying array of gas stoves and thought to themselves, which is better, Kenmore or Kitchenaid? Should I buy this Whirlpool refrigerator, or the Kenmore? Isn't Bosch a more trusted name than Kenmore for dishwashers? The answer to those questions is probably, in order, "neither," "either," and "not really."

Because even though Kenmore is proudly advertised by Sears as "the best known name in appliances" with a product in 60% of American homes, Kitchenaid, Whirlpool, Bosch, and a host of other manufacturers are the ones that made your Kenmore appliance.

Kenmore isn't the only brand to appear on products actually manufactured by its competition, but it may be one of the biggest. At Appliance411, a chart demystifies the Kenmore purchasing process. According to the web site, you can deduce who manufactured your appliance by reading the model number on your appliance's identification tag. The first three numbers (or in some appliances, the first three numbers plus the initial "C") correspond with a manufacturer. Does your refrigerator's model number begin with 106? You have a Whirlpool. If your dishwasher's model number starts with 630, it's made by Bosch. A microwave starting with 401 is a Samsung. And so on.

With the federal "Cash for Clunkers" program such a resounding success and now out of money, prepare for the next wave of federal stimulus money -- "Cash for Refrigerators."

That isn't the formal name of the federal program, which is set to begin late this fall with rebates of $50 to $200 on purchases of high-efficiency household appliances, part of a $300 million stimulus to boost home appliance sales.

Users won't have to trade in their old dish washers, refrigerators or other appliances to get the rebate. The Energy Department expects most of the $300 million to be awarded by the end of November, although given the success of the car program, you might want to get in line early at your favorite home supply store.

You know those car commercials, the ones that say it's okay to return a new car if you lose your job? Well, Sears has come up with variation on that theme. Buy an appliance and related merchandise worth at least $399, and if you lose your job between 60 days and a year afterward, you're eligible for Sears' own relief package.

For every month you're out of work, Sears will credit one twelfth of the total back. If you are still unemployed a full year later, forget the debt and keep the appliance. It's Sears' way of helping out during these difficult times.

It's also Sears' way of helping itself, of course. Sears is still the largest appliance seller in this country, even after seven years of losing market share to the likes of Costco, Lowe's and Home Depot. But market share started climbing back up last year and Sears must be loathe to lose a single point.

It's a fact of life that prices will fluctuate, but many retailers now offer price adjustments to take a little bit of the worry out of making a purchase. SavvySugar has compiled a list of 10 retailers that do price adjustments and matching, as well as the time frame to claim a lower price.

Scoring a better price on a past purchase is nothing new, in fact the now-defunct Circuit City used to offer a 60 day HDTV guarantee before it closed up shop, but in the past few years the number of items you can get a price adjustment on has greatly increased.

In its survey of price adjustment policies at retailers, SavvySugar found that many are offering a generous 14 day period to get money back if the price has dropped. Some retailers are even going the extra mile and adjusting for lower prices at competing stores. On top of price adjusting appliances and HDTVs, the SavvySugar article points out that you can even get price adjustments at many clothing stores and on Wal-Mart purchases!

Expensive appliances always seem to die at the worst possible moment. You've just emptied your bank account to pay your bills, the laundry is piling up and you'd really love to be able to wear clean underwear today, but your washing machine isn't cooperating. Suddenly you find yourself shelling out $800 for those clean undies, in the form of a new washing machine. D'oh!

It happens to all of us, and no appliance will live forever, but you can prolong the life of your current appliances with a few simple home maintenance techniques that you might not be doing already.

For instance, keep that washing machine alive and well by clearing the grit from the screens where the hoses attach to the water supply, and never overload it with too many clothes. For your dryer, clear the lint trap after each use, and clean the exhaust duct once a year to avoid fire risks.

In the kitchen, you should clean the dust from the compressor coils on your fridge every few months. It's gross down there, but keeping the dust under control will improve your refrigerator's performance. For the range, don't cover your drip pans with foil. Everybody does it, but it can actually short-circuit the burner. Keeping the reflector bowls clean and shiny will help them reflect heat efficiently and evenly.

It all sounds like tedious cleaning, but a little extra time every few months will keep your appliances performing their best for you, so you can eat hot food out of clean dishes while wearing clean underpants whenever you want. For more household maintenance tips, check out this list by Consumer Reports.

Every so often, I come across a statistic that makes me pause for a moment. This week, the big stat was 14%, which is the amount of household electricity that the average refrigerator consumes. By comparison, lighting takes up a measly 9%, clothes dryers take up 6%, and color TVs take up 3%. This makes refrigerators the single most energy-consuming appliance in the average home. Incidentally, this also means that roughly $0.14 of every dollar spent on electricity goes to paying for the fridge. That's a lot of money.

One solution, of course, is to throw away the old icebox and pick up a new one, preferably a model with the new "Energy Star" rating. These fridges use half the electricity of models produced before 1993, 40% less than models produced in 2001, and 15% less than the current government regulations require. That having been said, new refrigerators are pricey, and you might not have several hundred dollars burning a hole in your pocket. While you save up for an Energy Star fridge, here are a few things that you can do to put your refrigerator on an electricity diet:

Around the holidays when I have the luxury of sitting back and thinking about the gifts I want my loved ones to buy for me, I usually start lusting after kitchen appliances. This year it was an ice cream maker I wanted (but I didn't ask for -- more on that later). Last year I was so enamored of a yogurt maker that I gave it to my father, who promptly gave it right back to me. Thanks Dad! (It really is a great gadget for anyone who appreciates the power of active cultures -- and it turns out gallons of plain yogurt for pennies.)

So why didn't I ask for the ice cream maker? Because I know that if I wait a bit, I'll find one on my thrift store shop shelves at one-tenth the price. Since I know I will only use it two or three times before the novelty wares off, I'd rather not get a new one. When I'm tired of it and it starts taking up too much space in my minuscule Manhattan kitchen, I'll just return it to the 'store' -- my thrift store that is -- for someone else to use for a while. My local Salvation Army is like a lending library of kitchen gadgets.

Of course, you run the risk that you'll get the thing home and it won't work (that's actually never happened to me with kitchen appliances, since these things seem extra hardy). You also will no doubt be absent the instruction booklet or any recipe sheets. No worries, most manufacturers publish them online now. Pasta makers, popcorn poppers, espresso machines, I've seen them all for sale for $10 or less.

It's not just appliances that are fun to buy. My favorite wooden kitchen spoon came from the same thrift shop. It is so worn and smooth and ancient that I feel like a real chef just holding it in my hand. I've picked up some really nice and interesting serving spoons, bowls and other utensils. Many of my favorite juice and wine glasses come from the same source. I share Sarah Gilbert's sentiments about the beauty of the lone shapely mug that stands out on the shelves of the thrift store.

Fact is, quality kitchenware lasts and can be bought for cents on the dollar at a thrift store. What's the fun of
matching glassware anyway?

This post was written as part of a series on how to thrift shop smarter. Read more on what to buy, and not to buy, at thrift stores.