Laundering Money

Don’t worry – there is nothing illegal contained in the following post and if you arrived here hoping to find something illegal, I am sorry to disappoint you.

For some time now our dryer has been squeaking like a son-of-a-gun and has also been chewing up clothes. It seems there was a spot above the door where smaller items would get stuck between the spinning drum and the metal around the door. Needless to say, there are numerous socks, tshirts and underwear with small holes in them now!

My wife had finally had enough and we agreed that a new dryer was needed. We went looking at a few stores and I basically left the decision up to her as I really did not have a preference other than we try to be as economical as possible. She selected a new dryer and we arranged for it to be delivered on Thursday.

Out With The Old
When I got home from work on Thursday night, the new dryer was conveniently placed on my side of the garage (I think my wife did this so I would be motivated to install it that night). After changing clothes, I came down and cleaned up the laundry room to give myself more room to work and get the old dryer out.

Removing and installing a dryer is really a piece of cake, which is why we declined to pay the $39 to have the new dryer installed and the $10 to have the old dryer removed. After unplugging the old dryer and disconnecting the gas line, I moved the dryer over to the garage door and carried it out to the garage.

All that was left to do now was clean up the floor where the dryer had been and bring the new dryer in to be installed.

In With The New
After getting the new dryer into the laundry room, I had the gas line reconnected and the vent connected in just a few minutes. As most home improvement projects go, I then realized that I did not put the feet on the dryer and hoped I would be able to do it without disconnecting everything again.

With the help of my wife to hold the dryer as I tilted it from side to side, I was able to connect all 4 feet and adjust them properly so the dryer is level and flush with the washing machine. All in all, this was a very easy job and much of the day Friday was spent catching up on the laundry.

Lost Opportunity
While our old dryer still functioned, it was destroying clothes so we did not want to hang onto it. Last night I hauled it out to the trash for pickup this morning. The dryer wasn’t outside more than two hours when someone drove by and picked it up with their truck.

As I heard the truck outside loading up the dryer, I immediately began to wonder if I missed an opportunity to make a few bucks on my old dryer. Surely the parts and/or metal have some amount of value, although I wouldn’t really know how much or who would want it.

With that lack of knowledge, I don’t regret getting it out as soon as possible as any lost money was worth the convenience of getting it out of the house and not having to haul it somewhere. Hopefully the people that picked it up can get a few bucks out of it or fix it well enough to where it no longer eats clothing so they can use it.