Imagine one day opening your fridge and finding that it hasn’t been working all day and that all of your food has gone to waste. If this hasn’t happened to you yet, then you’re lucky; plenty of people can attest to how frustrating this is. It’s no less frustrating when a different appliance, like an oven or dishwasher, stops working. Of course, you’ll go through the user trial and error process, having an appliance repairperson come by to attempt to fix your broken machines. But what happens when they report that there is nothing to be done, and you need to buy a new one altogether? This can be maddening, as quite often appliances fail not due to user error or a lack of upkeep, but simply because they’re old and have reached the end of their lifespans. No appliance lasts forever, and this is something that most of us must deal with over the course of our lifetimes. Yet, you can’t spend a lot of time waiting around to invest in a new appliance, especially if it’s a vital one like a refrigerator or an oven. But these are expensive items and not the types of things that most of us buy on a regular basis. So, how are you going to approach your hunt for new appliances? Let’s look below at how you can handle your shopping most efficiently.
1. Choose Quality Over Price
You’ll likely be bombarded with online ads as soon as you begin your search for a new appliance, and some of the prices may shock you, either because they’re insanely high or because they’re shockingly low. Now, you don’t have to buy the most expensive appliances on the market. But at the same time, you’re probably better off avoiding some of the trials and tribulations of faulty, cheap equipment. If an item is being sold for significantly less than everything comparable within its range, it’s probably because that item has either been made with subpar manufacturing standards and materials or it’s outdated and the sellers are attempting to offload the last bit of stock. Furthermore, if they’re attempting to offload the last remaining stock, that means it probably undersold. Why is that? Look online for reviews, and be careful before making a final decision. Some money in your pocket now may be nice, but you don’t want to be paying for repairs within a year. For that matter, customer financing options make many expensive items much more attainable over time.
2. Consider Customer Financing
Just because an appliance is expensive doesn’t mean that you can’t afford it; rather, you’ll simply need to pay for it over time versus all at once. Customer financing is how many people pay for appliances, especially when those appliances are sudden replacements for items that unexpectedly failed. Appliance financing is quite common, and you don’t have to have perfect credit in order to finance an appliance. Financing an appliance is not like financing a house; you’re probably going to be able to pay off the appliance within a matter of months, or a few years at most depending on the cost of the item and the size of your payments. Don’t be afraid to ask about bad credit financing before dismissing the appliance you want outright.
3. Buy Energy Efficient
If you’ve already decided that you’re interested in financing for appliances, look into buying an energy efficient machine. A lot of energy efficient appliances are more expensive than more old-fashioned appliances, but they will save you money in the long term because they’ll lower your energy bills, whether these are your water bills, your electric bills, or both. When you use an EnergyStar rated dishwasher, you can potentially save 1,300 gallons of water. That’s 1,300 gallons of water that you aren’t paying for.
Between customer financing and early payment options, there are many ways in which you can get the appliances that you want. Do your research, ask questions, and think about how to save money in the long term before making a decision.
