Another Reason I Love Our Washer/Dryer – and Lowe’s

When we moved into this house in October 2006 we had to buy a new washer/dryer set. We bought a front-loading Bosch set from Lowe’s. We went with that set for a variety of reasons, including: 1) we had a 10% discount coupon for any appliances over $350, 2) they were offering a $100 gift card from Lowe’s (which we later used on our new dishwasher), 3) they were offering three years of free laundry detergent, and 3) they were providing free delivery. Add in a 10-year maintenance plan from Lowe’s, and I’d say we did really well.

Add in the fact that this washer/dryer ROCKS. I love the features on it and it definitely gets the clothes really clean. We’ve only had a few bumps – sometimes if you overstuff the washer the spinner stops functioning, resulting in soaking wet clothes when the cycle is done. You then have to remove half the stuff and spin one half, then put in the other half and spin that. But that’s a user error, not a washing machine error. A few times after we first got the machine it would mysteriously stop working. I feared we had bought a bad washer. However, after a quick phone call to Bosch (not Lowe’s), I found out that the amount of detergent I was using (per the instructions on the machine itself AND the box of detergent) could be cut in half. Once I did that, no more issues.

And so today’s post is to talk about that “free detergent for three years.” We’ve now owned the machine for 15+ months. The free detergent came in the form of coupons dated to expire every 6 weeks. Our last coupon expires 12/31/09. We’ve been faithfully buying the detergent as each coupon gets ready to expire, whether we needed it or not. But there’s no way a box can be used up in six weeks (unless you have a family of 10), resulting in some overage in our stockpile. I’m almost done with the box we’re currently using, and have three big boxes waiting to be used. So if we continue on with this trend, by the time we turn in our last coupon in 12/09, I very well could have 6-7 boxes of detergent in my stockpile waiting to be used. Which means our “three years of free detergent” will actually be more like four years.

And it’s all thanks to that Bosch rep that I spoke to on the phone, who explained to me that front-loading washers require less detergent than top-loading, and that Bosch machines are specifically built to require even less than *other* front-loading washers. Her recommendation? 1 heaping tablespoon for a regular load of laundry, 2 heaping tablespoons for very dirty loads. Yep – TABLESPOONS. Now, I’m a bit paranoid that 2 heaping tablespoons are not going to cut it while my kids are potty training. So I used 2 heaping tablespoons for regular loads, and 4 heaping tablespoons for very dirty loads. But even that is about 1/2 what I was using before I called and spoke to the rep.

In any event, if you are in the market for a new washer/dryer – I recommend the Bosch brand, and I also recommend you seek out Lowe’s and see what kind of rebates they are offering.