A testimony from Kat who blogs at k + n:
About 18 months ago, my sweet-as-pie parents bought us a new washing machine as a thank you for submitting an insurance claim for their house fire. It was (and still is) beautiful! I loved the front loader and the candy apple red color and couldn’t wait to save up and buy the matching dryer.
Unfortunately, we were newlyweds living away from home in a new state and a new house, so we had lots of other unexpected expenses that go with buying a 100-year-old house. My engineer husband was working 50 hour weeks while remodeling our house himself and I couldn’t find a full-time job, so the dryer went on the back burner. After all, we had a dryer already — it just didn’t match!
Fast forward 12 months, and my husband found out that his company was shutting down production at his plant and moving his program to Texas. We were blessed that they asked him to move with the program!
It was a long transition (selling the house, moving back in with my parents while he worked temporarily in Connecticut, and finally moving down to an apartment in Texas). After we moved down to Texas in February, we decided to make buying a dryer a serious priority as we didn’t have one at all anymore!
Using the found money method, we funneled all of our extra income into our savings account.
This included:
- A reimbursement check from our old cable company for returning their modem ($75),
- 2 different photography events my husband picked up through Craigslist ($385),
- Cashed out my husband’s smugmug account balance from selling prints and digital downloads ($185.08),
- Easter presents from my parents and my husband’s grandmother ($120),
- A reimbursement check from our old home insurance policy ($321.61).
All of these sources totaled $1,086.69. The dryer + needed duct and power cord + sales tax equaled $1,209.84. As you can tell, we were a little bit short, but! we decided to purchase right after Memorial Day weekend which allowed for $312.40 in discounts and we had a gift card with a remaining balance of $90.56 from a return, which made our out-of-pocket expenses $806.88. We also have cash back in the amount of $24.98 that will be disbursed on August 15th from Ebates!
With a little sacrifice and some focus, we paid for our dryer in cash and had an additional $279.81 for our emergency fund (not to mention a Big Fat Check from Ebates)!
Kat and her husband are first and foremost Orthodox Christians. Kat has been the lucky wife of Nick, an engineer who loves photography and cycling, for 2 years. They both work full-time while patiently waiting to be blessed with a family, and blog at k + n about their journey to becoming debt free.
Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.
Christine says
I’m sorry – this has been bugging me. When you say you “submitted an insurance claim for your parents” do you mean a claim that was not your own? That is insurance fraud, and I hope MSM would not endorse that. Forgive me if I have misunderstood.
Crystal says
I took that to mean that they helped their parents submit the claim. Maybe she can clarify for us what she meant when she has a chance. Thanks for mentioning that so it could get clarified as we definitely don’t endorse insurance fraud — and I’m sure the author doesn’t either.
kat says
sorry that i didn’t include “the rest of the story” about the insurance claim. i thought it was a lot of unnecessary information!
kat says
my family had a house fire right before my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, so i helped my mom submit the claim for the house fire. she had a lot on her mind at the time so she was really under the wire to get the claim submitted for the house fire before the deadline, which is why she needed assistance.
hlalle says
Hey…Congrats on your AWESOME new dryer. I have the same red Samsung set and they are worth saving up every dime for.
kat says
thanks, hlalle! i am really enjoying them!
Michael Taylor says
My wife and I were able to pay cash for our wash machine and dryer this past year. Our dryer died, but we chose to replace both so they would match. Picky I guess. :o)
Thank goodness for our cash emergency fund! I’m pretty hard core on CASH only!
kat says
congratulations on your purchase, michael! i hope you are enjoying your washer and dryer. thanks for the comment!
Melissa says
Congratulations! It is so encouraging to read about others who reject using credit. I loved hearing your story. Very creative ways to be able to pay cash for your purchase. Thank you for sharing!
kat says
thank YOU for reading, melissa!
Johanna says
Great job! I love the feeling of accomplishment when you have saved up for something and don’t have to feel at all guilty about it after!
kat says
thanks, johanna!
Jenny in UT says
Fabulous! Good for you!!!!! 🙂
kat says
thanks, jenny! 🙂
Lora C says
I love reading these post!! I paid cash for my new refrigerator last month. It is a great feeling!!!
kat says
congratulations on your new paid for fridge, lora! thanks for the comment!
Jamie Rohrbaugh says
Great story! I had forgotten all about Ebates until I read this. The dryer is beautiful too!
kat says
thanks, jamie! happy to remind you of the wonders of Ebates!
Sakura says
Great Job!!!
kat says
thanks, sakura!
Elisha says
I just wanted to let you know how timely this post is for our family! My husband and I were literally just discussing going to purchase a new dryer tonight because our 15 year old dryer that we have repaired sooooo many times has stopped heating again. However, we would have had to put in on credit. We KNOW that’s not the right thing for us, but we were both so tempted to give in anyway. Well, I pulled up my facebook and this was the first post I saw, so I said “Ok, God, I know you are right!” and decided that I will go look for the replacement part we need tomorrow and repair it one more time or buy an inexpensive used one for now. Thank you for sharing & being the avenue that God used to keep us from making a financial mistake 🙂
kat says
i am so humbled that this post encouraged you, elisha! i hope that your own dryer plans are fruitful! thank you for the kind words.
Susan says
Great post Kat. I enjoy reading the “we paid cash” posts here at MSN, and I honestly think this is among the best posts in the series.
Your methods of coming up with the money for your dryer are things that anyone can do by putting forth just a reasonable amount of effort — pick up a little extra income by tapping into an enjoyable hobby, being diligent about getting some cash back for items that you no longer need, like the modem. How many people would just toss it out without giving any thought to what it might be worth? (I probably would before I became enlightened about such thingss), and very importantly, being patient and waiting for a good sale. That alone can save people hundreds on a big ticket item.
kat says
thank you so much for your sweet words, susan! i’m not a very diligent person in general, but we are very happy with the end result of this experiment and it will definitely be a tool we use again in the future!
Sandy says
Beautiful! Congratulations on your hard work and diligence.
kat says
thank you, sandy!
Chris says
I’m so glad you were able to pay cash! But, is it just me, or is that an expensive dryer….wowee! LOVE the red though! 🙂
kat says
thanks, chris! after some quick searching on homedepot.com, i can share with you that electric dryers (like ours) range in price from $399-$1,599–which is QUITE the difference! the red is my favorite part, too–glad that you like it! 🙂