Two of my machines broke down this week: first on Sunday, the pipe thingy that brings water into the washing machine and the television on Tuesday 🙁
Mom’s boyfriend was able to fix the pipe, although he had to hunt down a couple of extra parts because one of the parts that came with the new pipe didn’t fit with the faucet. The washing machine is almost 25 years old, and this is the first thing that needed fixing. Still works great, despite being so old *knocks on wood*
Then something broke in the television – there’s no picture, just a black screen and a narrow light/color line about in the middle of the screen. The audio works normally.
The television is also old, 15 years going on 16. If it can’t be fixed, I won’t have the money to buy a new one until I get a job that lasts for more than a month or two. I don’t even want to think about what to do about the television at the moment – whether to try and have it fixed or not. I also can’t get it fixed if that costs too. And I’m not even sure it’s not waste of money to get it fixed now (assuming that whatever it is that’s broken and that fixing would cost what ‘m prepared to pay to fix it)… it’s been repaired once before already and maybe having one or other thing brake soon there after. It’s starting to be that old. Might be better in the long run just write it off now, and buy a good new television the next time I have money enough to big purchases. I can’t ask Mom to buy me one as a birthday or Christmas present, considering how much she’s already helping me with my meds. And even if I could, these new LCD or whatever televisions are so different from this old generation that I’m familiar with, that I’d have to research them anyway for a couple of months just to learn what’s good and what’s not, and whether they all support full HD already (a couple of years back, I know they didn’t even though they were advertised as HD ready) because that’s going to be coming along here apparently around 2015 or so if I remember right. So for now, I think it might best to get a USB tv stick for my computer (I can get one for about 20 euros), and then take my time learning about these new fangled televisions and what’s the evolution of them is going to be in the next few years. So that I don’t buy a tv that is inadequate in couple of years when HD broadcasts start.
Hmm. Food for though. Once thing’s f0r sure – absolutely not gonna do anything about until autumn. Too hot to learn that stuff now!
I just worry that all my house hold appliances start to break down now – the washing machine is the oldest, the television the second oldest. All the others were bought when I moved here and that was 13 years ago. They don’t build them to last anymore and the next ones I have to buy; I’ll be lucky if they’ll last 5 years 🙁 I’ve lost count how many of my friends have had to replace machines when they break down about five years after purchase. It seems like they make them to last only until the warranty expires, and then within a year from that, they break down. Just like my previous laptop. The machines should last longer than that! It’s uneconomic and unenviromental to have to replace machines every few years. You’re not supposed to buy a new one every few years (if you have money to do it, which I don’t)!
On the other hand, I’m the kind of person who thinks all machines should last for a long time, the bigger and more expensive it is, the longer. Instead they all, computers, cell phones, washing machines, fridges, they all seem to break down 3-4 after purchase these days. I don’t want to buy that, that’s wasting money. And also, IMO, what you buy, you should use it as long as it works well and fills your needs; you don’t buy a new one just because this one is already 2 years old and doesn’t have all the new toys!
The only things I can see logic buying a new one are computers every few years – and that only if you use programs that new versions can’t run well on a machine that’s a few years old. All but one of my computers I bought because of that. And the one I didn’t buy because of that, I bought because the previous one broke down 2,5 five years after purchase and fixing it would’ve been almost as costly as buying a new one, especially because it had been already repaired three times under warranty. I had planned to think about a new computer at the earliers, 5 years after purchase. But say like Mom and her boyfriend? They don’t use theirs every day, never use anything but internet for e-mail and Word occasionally. They don’t use it even every week. Usage like that? The computer should last for them for the rest of their lives. It’s 3,5 years old and it better not break.
Huh, this post became something of a rant. But I just hate the thought that the next washing machine or television or whatever I need to buy, is more likely to break down soon after the warranty expired than not :<