Mom’s old fridge that wouldn’t die!
Is it just me or have you noticed two new trends?
First my clothes never seem to wear out anymore. I haven’t worn a pair of shoes out in decades! I tire of my clothes before I see holes in them and I haven’t had anything fray on the edges since grade school uniforms.
This is presenting a dilemma. I don’t need anything and it takes all the fun out of shopping.
The second trend is that appliances DON’T last. I remember my mother’s refrigerator. It was at least 35 years old when we gave it away because it was so doggone ugly. It didn’t have much of a freezer but it still worked.
I am in this house 10 years. It was brand new when I moved in. Top quality! We have replaced the water heater, refrigerator (the best of the best version we bought for big bucks lasted six years!), dish washer, water softener and the heat pump.
In the forty years that I remember my mother’s house, the only thing she replaced was that dang refrigerator (because it was ugly and she needed one with a real freezer), a stoker furnace (the old one was very, very old) and the roof shingles.
She didn’t have a dish washer but her range worked great. One of the burners on our glass top doesn’t heat quickly or get very hot so that’s on our list to replace.
There is something wrong when your appliances wear out faster than your clothes. Do they make polyester appliances?
Views and Mews by Coffee Kat 
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I hate to badmouth any of my appliances because sure as shootin’ they will die. We moved in our house in 2000 and replaced our dishwasher one or two years ago. Our coffee machines wear out faster than we do.
Hmmm! My clothes? I haven’t stayed the same weight long enough to wear out any clothes. I will work on that this summer.
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I know what you mean about coffee machines. We got a new one about 5 years ago and so far so good. You look thinner on your gravatar than on your masthead so it looks like you are headed in the right direction weightwise!
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Really? I’ll have to check. 🙂
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I wear out shoes — I just invested in $$$ in some well made dress shoes for business. I dinged them up already, geez.
You’re right — Mom’s dryer, fridge, stove and deep freeze are still humming along. I’ve had all new and replaced every single one of them. The only original appliance still working is the toaster and I don’t eat bread. *sigh!
MJ
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My mom had an old toaster that was just ugly and it never did break. I took it into work so that people could “toast” there and got a pretty one that didn’t last half as long.
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The only clothing that wears out are my t-shirts. They get those little tiny holes around my middle. I thought for a long time that bugs were eating through the cloth (apparently invisible bugs because I never discovered any of them). Then I read online that the pulls on zippers cause those holes.
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As my relatives upgrade to fancier TVs, I take in their old tube TVs. I have been using their hand me downs longer than their new stuff lasts.
As for clothes….Stains do them in faster than wear. I need a bib. 8)
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Wise woman! Yes on stains. My t-shirts end up in the “work clothes” pile from stains, not holes.
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I’m doing something wrong… everything I have wears out, except earrings. Those I just lose somewhere along the way.
Did you draw the refrigerator picture yourself? It’s very good. 🙂
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Yes on the drawing. I couldn’t find a good picture that depicted my Mom’s old fridge. So many of the clipart these days have the watermark so I thought what the heck. It was 3 lines and the top of my coaster!
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When we bought out last refrigerator, just a few years ago, the young sales person explained to us that they are now built to last seven years. SEVEN! I agree with you about remembering appliances that lasted decades. After we were told that we didn’t buy a very expensive refrigerator, that’s for sure. I like the sound of a polyester appliance. You may be on to something!
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When our refrigerator went (the compressor blew) I had a fit. I talked to the place we bought it which is a family owned business and they said the same thing about refrigerator life. They thought my fridge should have lasted maybe another year but with within the “normal” range. Our new refrigerator is at 4 years and I pamper it. We have birthday parties for it and try to make it a part of the family so it doesn’t leave.
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I bought new appliances when I moved into my condo 17 years ago and they are still humming along. I bought the basic models, no fancy stuff. Except the self-cleaning oven. I think that’s the key, basic. As for clothes I wear out tee shirts and jammies. Not sure what that says about me.
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Don’t get rid of your appliances! The new stuff even basic won’t last nearly as long.
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Look at all the money that you can save! Pretty soon they will invent what you ask, they have already invented firearm made of plastic.
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I think it’s my body that’s wearing out so the clothes have to be adaptable and changed to accommodate new shapes. Our carpet is 24 years old and looks new even though we have been told carpets are supposed to wear out in five years. And of course you are so right – appliances come and go. There must be some explanation for all this. Love your post!
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We did mostly hard wood flooring but the carpet we put in the upstairs closets wore out in 5 years!
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You are right, clothes don’t wear out! At least women’s clothes. My husband can still do a good job on wearing out his Levis and his cotton t-shirts. But I never manage to wear out anything!
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My husband wears his clothes out but he doesn’t have as much to rotate as I do. Then again, he does more physical work-type stuff that’s hard on them.
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Planned obsolescence is what keeps capitalism churning along. I guess the clothing industry relies on things going out of style…
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You are not alone. All my dress slacks and shirts are unworn and in great condition since retirement in 2006 including shoes. I think all I’ll ever have to get is socks and underwear rest of my life. Of course there may be that problem of the expanding waistline do to blogging all day.
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Retirement has helped to keep the “good” clothes “good.” But I haven’t even worn out a pair of jeans in a year and a half! The other thing is style. Hope you threw out your leisure suits!
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We had the same washer & dryer my entire life. They were a couple longer than most humans. I wish I could say the same, but I can’t. Our dryer is a cougar, she hooked up with a young front end loader a few years ago.
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I admire that in a dryer!
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Hahahaha!
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Oh, they are working on the long lasting clothes thing…some of the newer appliances seems to be determined to shorten the life of clothes?
I agree, fridges used to last forever….people used to sell them with the house because they were so darn sick of the thing.
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Planned obsolescence is the plague of our times. Beyond the expense of buying new machines, there is the learning curve associated with figuring out how to use each new machine. Just thinking about it all wears me out.
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Yes, the odd thing is that I never learn all the options on the newer machines. It’s the same way with my car. I don’t use half of the stuff on the dashboard because I just don’t remember how to use it.
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