Limited Express Warranty: Fill & Download for Free

There are a lot of things to consider in buying large home appliances from ANY store. The main buying point should be the warranty AFTER the sale! If the washing machine comes at a great deal, it’s a pile of junk when it cannot be serviced conveniently or cheaply! I will not go into which brand is best because that’s a buyer’s preference. So, you will have to be a “smart buyer”! Look up which brand has a great track record, what departmental sales are happening at that store or will a store give you a discounted price over its competitor! But, in the end, the service warranty of the washing machine is it’s most important factor! One day, or maybe 2 1/2 years from the purchase day, it may break down. Then what? Will the store fix it, how will they assist you, will they replace it, or discount a price for purchase of another? Also, there’s a BIG difference between a manufactures warranty and a store guarantee warranty ! Manufacturing warranties can have an expressed time limit or equipment failure time limit! I know with Home Depot you can purchase a store warranty on certain products to extend or add onto the manufacturers warranty time. Finally, talk to the salesperson. I know Home Depot have vendors, on-site computer classes, and road shows to teach their store associates the latest in and outs of their products that they sell. They want you to be more product knowledgeable, so you can get want you need concerning value and productivity. I hope this helped you a little…

Read up on behavioral economics and think about the ways that your own spending decisions are biased.A dollar is a dollar, not a percentage of what you're buyingRemember that saving 5% on a $10000 item is not at all like saving 5% on a $10 item. But in order to process decision problems at different scales, the brain tends to normalize things so the two cases appear similar. Ever since I studied behavioral economics, I started spending less time worrying about saving 20 cents on spaghetti, but I spent a lot of time thinking about what car to buy and making sure I got a good deal on it. You can buy a lot of spaghetti for a $4k discount on a car, and yet I see people who spend lots of time on grocery coupon clipping but never stop to consider whether they could move to a cheaper apartment, drive a cheaper car, etc.Be very careful with periodic paymentsBut at the same time... Convert monthly payments into longer periods when you are thinking about them. A "mere" $100 cell phone contract actually costs you $2400 over the duration of the 2-year contract, and getting an $80 contract instead saves you $480. For the same reason, renegotiating or changing your cable contract (claim you're planning to switch to fiber), insurance, mortgage is likely to have a much better money-savings-the-time-spent ratio than coupon clipping. It may take several dozen hours to research how to refinance your mortgage, but it may save you money each month for the next 20 years, and that adds up! Apartment rent is another such tricky thing. The difference between a $1400 or $1600 apartment does not seems as large as it is, and that is of course why the rent is quoted per month, and not for the whole period of the lease. (I hear that in London, the practice is to quote rent per week!) (For an even more extreme example, my local NPR station recently asked people to pledge $1 a day.)Risk aversion, insurance, and warrantyThink about risk aversion and see if you're being inconsistent, especially when it comes to insurance (often a scam) and extended warranties (nearly always a scam). An old saying passing its way through my family is that you should insure yourself for things that would bankrupt you. Would it bankrupt you if you totaled that 2000 Corolla? If you didn't get an extended warranty on your fridge and it were to break, just how destitute would you be after paying $700 for a new one? (And yes, $700 really does buy you a decent fridge in the US, much larger than the family of 5 I grew up in ever had when I was a kid.) I have heard of people getting insurance for their windows (in case somebody breaks them). If you have so little savings and so little credit limit that you cannot pay for a broken window... that is precisely when you should reconsider such frivolous expenses as window insurance. (I don't know if window insurance exists in the US, but I saw it marketed pretty aggressively in Holland.) Also, your credit card may already offer extended warranties on anything you buy with it; American Express is especially nice about it, but other firms do it too.Don't be a cheapskateAnd last, again not from economics but from personal experience: I have found that being too stingy has often led me to buy inferior things that later have to be replaced, and for many values of X, two cheap Xs cost more than one expensive X. But combine that with the IKEA rule: any product category at IKEA will have a cheapest item, which is inferior in quality, a second cheapest item, which is better, and a bunch of others which merely look different in some way. (My canonical examples are woks and bookcases, both of which come in considerable variety, of which only the very cheapest is actually really inferior.) Or, to put it a bit more generally: there are diminishing marginal quality returns to paying more. I have a $70 coat rack that, unlike the $25 coat rack I considered briefly, does not fall over when you hang a heavy coat on it. I consider that worth paying three times as much for. But you can easily blow $700 on a coat rack. Is that 10 times as good as mine?Data, data, dataThe first thing they teach you (or should teach you, anyway) about optimizing a computer program is measure first, optimize later. Same with personal finance. If you optimize the bits that happen to strike you as being interesting or easy to optimize, you're like the guy who looked for his keys under the lamppost "because that's where the light is." Get something like Mint or Personal Capital to gather all your financial data and look over it. Where are the biggest advantages to be had? It may be not in the payments you deal with everyday and that come easily to mind (groceries, gas, that sort of thing).(Note that Personal Capital and Mint are both free services that have to make money somehow, but with very different business models. Personal Capital tries to convince you to let them manage your investments, and has a very strict policy against sharing with third parties. Mint uses your data for marketing all sorts of things, on the other hand, and even lets “affiliates” use it to determine your creditworthiness. I wouldn’t trust their privacy policy as far as I can throw it.)Cost of livingThe nuclear option to reducing cost of living is to go and live in a cheap place. If my $1500/month apartment in Redwood City were in Topeka, Kansas I'd be paying about $500 for it. Now as it happens, there are good reasons I don't live in Topeka: Redwood City has some perks, like Climate Best By Government Test, proximity to my job, proximity to my friends, proximity to lots of potential jobs and potential friends, etc. But if you really need to start spending less right now, moving to a cheaper place is something you need to keep in mind. Another big expense for many people is often a car. If you can live and work in a place where you don’t need one, or you can at least reduce the number of cars in your household, that can save you a lot of money when you add it all up.Shop around periodically for periodic paymentsMy grandma once signed up for a cell phone plan back in the day when cell phones came with pull-out antennas to improve reception. The plan was outrageously expensive by today's standards and had not been offered to new customers for many years, but the telco had never bothered to inform her that she could get the same service for a fraction of the money. In other words: just because you were responsible and found a good deal on your cell phone plan, car insurance, annual chimney sweep, or whatever, does not mean that it's still a good deal.Debt and savings and investmentsUnsecured consumer debt can be very expensive. Making payments on a 20% APR credit card or store credit is a much better investment than any mutual fund can give you. Unless you are about to declare bankruptcy anyway, you should probably consider any option to get rid of high-interest debt, including digging into savings you promised yourself you wouldn't dig into.Coupons, special offers, and the likeIn general, I think chasing coupons and special offers and the like is often more trouble than it's worth and exposes you to the temptation to buy things you wouldn't otherwise have bought just because they are, or seem to be, cheaper than they normally are.But... if you understand the economics behind these things, it becomes easier to spot the cases where you can really actually save some money. Whether a particular discount scheme actually saves you significant money is pretty closely correlated with whether there is an obvious underlying economic reason for offering the discounts. (That is, a reason above and beyond the fact that shouting "we have discounts" has a slight psychological effect regardless of whether your prices are any good.)One such case is discounts given to adjust for fluctuating demand. This is especially relevant for restaurants. They need to charge more at peak times, and to do that without being accused of price gouging they give discounts at non-peak times. They all do so in different clumsy ways, and you can eat very cheaply if you figure out all the Wednesday Lunch Specials and suchlike.Another case of fluctuating demand is seasonality. Consumer electronics, toys, etc really are cheaper after Christmas. That's because a large fraction of consumer electronics get sold just before Christmas. Afterward, retailers have inventory that will either go out of style or at least be expensive to keep on the books until next Christmas (opportunity cost, storage cost, etc.) Same with out-of-season clothes.TaxesIn the US, taxes unfortunately tend to depend a lot on details of how you spend and invest your money. Learning about these is boring to many people, but it really pays off, especially for higher incomes. Here's an example of how screwy the tax system can be.Imagine identical tract homes A, B, and C. Joe buys home A for $250k and sells it after 30 years for $750k. Jane buys home B, sells it after 15 years for $500k, buys home C for $500k, and sells it after 15 more years for $750k. Joe pays a $37.5k of capital gains tax. Jane pays none. WTF? Well, current law exempts $250k of capital gains from real estate for each transaction (with lots of conditions and provisos, consult a CPA, etc.). If you spread out your capital gains over two transactions, you get twice the exemption (provided you meet all the conditions and provisos etc.)The technique Jane used is known as "tax gain harvesting." For some investments, though, you want to do the opposite: "tax loss harvesting." It's all horribly arcane and requires shuffling pieces of paper (or entries in electronic ledgers) around in just the right way. But it can save you a lot of money.Buy usedBuying used often makes sense, depending on why people are selling the used item. Things people get rid of for purely aesthetic reasons are especially likely to have a lot of remaining use in them.Probably the best example of where buying used is a great deal is appliances. People throw out washers and dryers because they got bigger ones, they switched from gas to electric or vice versa, and other reasons that have nothing to do with whether the appliance is functional. Things that go in kitchens (fridge, stove, etc.) may get tossed for purely aesthetic reasons. Every US metro area has a few used appliance dealers that'll sell you these things. Typically they'll even deliver and install, so you get all the same convenience you'd get from buying at Sears or Home Depot.Things like eBay and Craigslist have vastly improved the liquidity and efficiency of used goods markets, but be careful to check you're really getting a good deal. I've seen cheap harbor freight tools on craigslist for more than their original price. Reclaimed lumber prices are currently going crazy at least here in the Bay Area and you're much cheaper off buying new in many cases.When in doubt about quality it can help to simply ask the seller why they are selling. Many people who are willing to advertise defective goods to the public at large aren't very good at lying to someone standing right in front of them.

Let me address this in three parts:Overpaying for a houseLosing money (trying to catch a falling knife)What should you do?Overpaying - No one ever truly “overpays” for a house (at least not intentionally). People frequently pay more than market value, BUT you ultimately bid what the package of benefits is worth to you. The value to a specific person may be worth more or less than the value in the market (market value). Just like 90% of the population love chocolate, to the 10% that do not, the world’s finest Swiss truffles have no value. My point here is that in forming your strategy you need to consider the value to you, in addition to the value in the market.Losing Money There is an expression in finance - “Never try to catch a falling knife”. The literal meaning is obvious, but in finance what this means is that if you bought into an asset (stock, bond, etc.) at a certain price and the current market price is falling, you don’t want to sell. Converting the asset to cash only locks in your losses.So - taking the repairs out for a minute. When you pay more than market for a home, if you panic and sell, you will absolutely lock in your losses. Your alternatives are to rent the home, and let a tenant gradually pay off your mortgage OR live in it and realize that the home still has benefits to you — no matter what you do, you will have a monthly housing expense and owning a home is satisfying that need. Either option will allow you to put off selling until the economics work in your favor and you can break even or make a little money.What to do? There are three scenarios here: Catastrophic, Middle, Minor — let’s look at each (with regard to repairs):Catastrophic: If you have purchased a money pit that will bankrupt you with repairs and maintenance, then it’s best to cut your losses. Sell to an investor, negotiate a short-sale with your lender, and take the hit to your credit. In seven years, you’ll recover. In the meantime, be sure to apply for a lease on an apartment before you do the short-sale, or you may find it is hard to get approved for a lease.Middle (didn’t have a better word) — say there are significant repairs, like roof, plumbing etc. Try the following:Take out a home warranty plan — there are many providers so read the reviews well. I’ve had great service with American Home Shield (I’m not affiliated and get absolutely nothing from them). This will protect you from any major mechanical failures while you get your feet on the ground.If you have something like a roof or structural repair, get a ton of reviews (try HomeAdvisor - Find Local Home Repair & Improvement Services too), and interview a reputable contractor. Let them know that you are cash-strapped, but bound to be a regular customer. Ask them to work out a plan with you to make the house sound, and do repairs as needed. Here in North Texas, I had a pool guy, plumber, and electrician that were awesome, but they took a long time for me to find!If you really can’t make your payments, talk to your servicer. Let them know that you are on the verge of default and the repairs are going to put you over the edge. It’s a long shot, but they may have a program available to help you make repairs, and extend your payments to keep you out of default.Minor - if we’re just talking an out of date home, and one that needs a whole series of minor repairs, try these tips:Check Free Credit Score & Free Credit Reports With Monitoring, CreditSesame.com, and/or Turbo.com, or your favorite bank and find a card with a high limit and a special offer for 1 year at low interest on purchases and transfers. OR find a card that give you the best travel rewards from one of these or The Points Guy — then turn those expensive repairs into a nice trip.Hire an appraiser — it might cost $500 or so, but tell them that the assignment is twofold:Estimate the current market valueProvide an analysis of the most value-contributing repairs and upgrades.Tour the home with the appraiser and ask them to point out things that could be changed long and short term that would help to improve the marketability of the home. Allow them to be brutally honest with you and accept everything as constructive criticism.Form a plan to do as much as you can, and on a certain timeline. Then put what you are able into these repairs.Take a class or join a club to learn home repair skills (plumbing, electrical, carpentry, painting, tile, etc.). Start going to the seminars at Home Depot and Lowes. When you’re ready, devote what time and energy you can to “sweat equity”.Find a Habitat for Humanity ReStore — they sell surplus and rescued building supplies at big discounts. The money earned supports their efforts. There may be a local builder’s surplus outlet that you can shop at. Also - check for auction notices for building supplies. I’ve obtained paint and flooring almost for free to use on rehab projects by watching ads. You can also check groups on Facebook and other sources for free building materials.If you can make a plan to “stay and pay” that will serve you, the lender, and the local market the best.If you invest your own time and labor into the home, it will become something special to you and hopefully you’ll grow to love it and in a few years you won’t even be able to imagine you ever wanted to sell.Good Luck!