Major Appliances: Anatomy Of A Great Deal

January 9, 2009 · Filed Under , · 7 Comments 

As I mentioned a couple days ago, I bought my wife a new LG front loading washing machine for Christmas. It was kinda pricey, but my wife is the type of person who rarely buys stuff for herself that makes her life easier, so I wanted to do that for her! And with 3 kids and a ton of laundry, this will definitely make her life easier and she is thrilled with it so far. Plus, it will lower our water bill and our gas dryer bill which I am thrilled about!

Being a bargain hunter and major coupon geek, I was able to find a great deal on our LG washing machine. Here is what I did.

The item in question – LG 4.2 Cu. Ft. 9-Cycle Ultra Capacity Washer

Our Local Best Buy Price:
List Price – $999.99
Delivery Charge – $70.00
Sales Tax – $65.25
Total Cost – $1,135.25

After checking out Best Buy, I said to myself that surely I can find a better deal. So guess what? That’s right, I went online! My first stop, PriceGrabber.com. I entered the make and model of the washing machine and PriceGrabber.com quickly gave me a list of online merchants that sold it and their asking price. Gotta love technology! I found that US-Appliance.com was offering the same exact washer for $899.10 with FREE Shipping! But wait, it got even better. Since I am in California and US-Appliance is in Michigan, I had to pay ZERO sales tax. WooHoo!! Here is how much I saved:

US-Appliance Price:
List Price – $899.10
Delivery Charge – $0.00
Sales Tax – $0.00
Total Cost – $899.10

Bottom Line: I saved an incredible $236 by doing 5 minutes of research and not just assuming that my local big box store was going to be the best deal I could find. I think Howie Mandel would say, “Great Deal.”

On a side note, there is a local appliance store in my town that I like to give my business to and I actually called them to see if they could match this price. They said they couldn’t as the retailer (US-Appliance) was not a local competitor. It is getting harder and harder for local stores to compete, especially as Americans are tightening their wallets in our struggling economy. If money were no object, I would much rather give my money to the local business. But money is a major object for myself and our family of 5. I am sure US-Appliance buys in such large quantities that they can undercut the price of almost all other stores.

Have you found similar deals on major appliances or electronics? Looking forward to your comments!

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Comments

7 Responses to “Major Appliances: Anatomy Of A Great Deal”

  1. Pokeberry Mary on January 10th, 2009 4:35 am

    Well… just on a hunch I went over to Craigslist and typed in ‘front loader’ and here’s one:

    Ivory Kenmore Elite HE 3T Washer & Gas Dryer For Sale. Set Was Purchased At Sears Around 2-2.5 Years Ago And Is In Great Shape. The set went for $950 with the pedestals. There were photos–looks pretty nice.

    Of course the last washer I bought cost $50, also from Craigslist where it was advertised for $75. It hasn’t got alot of frills–but the clothes come out clean. ;)

    I don’t think I’d have paid $950 anyhow–I guess I think–you’d have to save an awful lot of money to make saving some water the selling point.

    Laundry’s laundry eh?

  2. Pokeberry Mary on January 10th, 2009 5:37 am

    I don’t mean you should never buy a new appliance–this one I guess is special to your wife. That’s fine. Just in 27 years of marriage having lived through good times and hard times–I finally came to the conclusion that ’stuff is stuff’ and we spend as little on it as possible. When we do spend lately its usually on a tool to do something ourselves–and then we still look on Craigslist first– which since we live in large city there’s almost always just what we need there. We also frequent places like ‘harbor freight’ for deals.

  3. Kyle on January 10th, 2009 9:18 am

    Hey Mary, good points. Craig’s List is great for deals and I look for bargains on it often. But yes this was a special gift for my wife and as I said she never spends money on herself so I didn’t mind spending the extra money.

  4. Pokeberry Mary on January 11th, 2009 7:24 am

    If you want a new appliance–that’s the way to do it– use the coupons etc..
    BTW–I saved some nice $$ on my grandbaby’s portable crib by using a coupon deal I found on your blog, and since we live across country I had her folks pick it up in the store–which also saved shipping. I gave the kids the difference to help out with baby’s needs. I owe you one!

  5. Kyle on January 12th, 2009 10:20 am

    Mary, glad you saved some money with one of my coupons!!

  6. mydeal24.com on January 13th, 2009 8:29 pm

    Deals are worth to get compared, one experiences lots of surprises. Saving money has never been easier, you simply have to invest a bit more time to study various deals and offers. I like this blog entry – anatomy of a deal, nice perspective

  7. Brian Green on May 17th, 2009 7:14 pm

    A deal worth to talk about, Bosch Laundry Pair and Pedestal for a good deal plus mail in rebate.

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