Revenge of the Small Appliances

My nine and a half year old toaster, seven year old coffee maker, and forty-five year old hand mixer all bit the dust this summer.

The toaster was easy to replace. I bought the cheapest on sale brand name model with wide slots that I could find.

The handmixer will wait since I only use it about three times a year.

Now, the coffeemaker, that warrants a story! And it's quite probably my most frugal shopping experience ever!

I thought that getting a new coffeemaker would be easy. My requirements were that it be a four cup model, be programmable (so my coffee could be ready when I wake up in the morning!), be fitted (or fittable) with a permanent filter, and be a good brand like Proctor Silex or Black & Decker.

I figured that since money was not really a factor, this would be an easy task.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!

The following takes place over the course of almost three weeks:

After touring Walmart, Zellers, Canadian Tire, Sears, a small appliance superstore, and the internet I came to the conclusion that the only four cup programmable coffeemaker is made by Sunbeam... not the most reliable company on the market, and it was more expensive than a plain model of a better brand. Okay, scratch programmable, reexamine the four cup models. Well, there wasn't much choice and I think GE was the most reputable brand I saw.

So, I conceded defeat and decided to evaluate the twelve cup models (too big!) before giving in to the Sunbeam model. Round and round the stores and internet I went again only to land at the Walmart where I started and where I found a twelve cup B&D programmable model on sale for half price at 19.99$. The Sunbeam was on sale for 26.99$ by this time and the GE four cup was 17.99$ (regular price). Add to that 8$ for a permanent filter.

Let's just say I can recognize the best value between three options.

So, I now have a twelve cup big ass coffeemaker on my counter. *sighs* But I can have real percolated coffee again! AND I'll be able to set the breadmaker to have my bread ready for wake up time so I can have both fresh bread AND coffee ready for breakkie. Woohoo!

Admitting that I can't give up coffee has definitely been frugal. I can't even begin to count how much money I've saved on my daily coffee runs since buying my own beans and grinding them at home.