Lessons from the Laundry Closet

Yes, I clearly am obsessed with our laundry closet. I joked with Trent last night that we probably won't see a reduction in our water bill because I'm constantly running loads. ;) And, really creepy, I'm folding & putting away the clothes as soon as they are done! Typically the baskets of clean, folded clothes end up on the floor at the foot our bed with us rummaging through as we need something. Terrible, I know. But, for the moment at least, the clothes are returning to the closet where they belong.

Now I've digressed from my original post intent. I wanted to share a few lessons I've learned in the remodeling of my laundry closet...

Pro
Doing a remodel project yourself will save money. And you might learn something during the process.

Con
It won't necessarily happen as quickly as you planned. Or as quickly as if you'd hired someone instead.
This was actually one of our faster projects, but I truly thought we'd wrap it up last Friday in a few hours.

Pro
Use coupons to get a discount on large priced items.
We hurried to buy the washer & dryer while we had a 12% off coupon. It was only valid for one item, but attributed to about $84 in savings.

Pro
Buy appliances from a store that offers free delivery and installation.

Con
The free installation is only guaranteed if everything is new so we had to purchase new hoses, vent & electrical plug (for the dryer).
The latter two I planned to buy anyway, but the new washer hoses were an extra $20 we weren't planning to spend.

Con
The installers aren't always fully trained on the appliance you've purchased so prepare for a mishap. In our case, a screw was lost and a small piece on the dryer door was broken.

Pro
Explaining the installation mishap to the store manager gets a quick response. We walked out 10 minutes later with replacement pieces the manager took off the display. And now our dryer is 100% intact.

Pro
Check the sales ads after you've bought the appliance(s) [or really any purchase]. If your item is on sale within 14-30 days (check store policy), you might be entitled to a refund.
While price checking the work surface last week, I discovered by accident that our washer & dryer were on sale. When I looked at the ad, it said "all appliances." So, I printed the online sales info, took it to the store, and we got about $37 back (we could only get money back on one because of the coupon).

Pro
The work surface was on sale as well last week.

Con
It wasn't in stock, but was in the warehouse. We could pay for it in store and pick-up later (no s&h fees). If we paid on-line and had sent to the store, we'd have to pay shipping. If we had it sent to our house, we'd have to pay shipping. I agreed to pick it up on Tuesday thinking "we'll save money." Bad, bad idea. I called before noon to be sure it was there. Went to the store after work for what I thought should be an easy pick-up. After all, the store advertises the ease of their order/pick-up. Twenty minutes later, a lot of "we can't find it" and line waiting, I finally had my work surface and was irritable. Next time, we'll have it shipped.

Pro
We bought the washer, dryer & work surface from a store with a frequent shopper rewards card so we'll be getting a gift certificate in the near future to shop again. And seeing as we've had enough appliance shopping for the time being, we'll use that money for something fun.

Now, I'll stop talking about our laundry closet. At least until I scrap it. ;)