Now & When

Perhaps I should’ve titled this “How to maintain your house without breaking the bank” or “10 ways to avoid being house poor” or something else… but this feels more like a lifestyle than a list of a few helpful hacks.

My wife and I always say, “He’s function and she’s form’.” It’s a simple way of saying I am more focused on how we interact with our home and Denaige is more focused on how our guests interact with our house. At worst, if it was up to me, whatever we build would last forever, meet our exact needs to function, and be such an aesthetic offence that interior designers and architects would come after me with pitchforks. If left up to Denaige, I’m inclined to think that whatever we build would either be found on the front cover of design magazines or make headlines as a home reno disaster to learn from event.

While the two biases on how to build things may clash from time to time, the outcome is usually goldilocks—we end up with a suitably functional and aesthetically pleasing result. Key message: Working together collaboratively makes us both happier in the end.

The Basic Bitch Lifestyle or BBL is a compromise of the two and started with discussions about appliances. In December 2020 we purchased a duplex in Calgary and within a week the dishwasher broke down. Over the next few months we noticed the Fridge was making strange sounds, the washing machine had a small leak, and the dryer was giving an error code.

It wasn’t the end of the world, but it is stressful when you are facing the cost of repairing or replacing all your appliances so soon after paying a lot of money to purchase a house. It’s also important to note that the house and the appliances at the time were just 5 years old.

Regardless of age, the appliances needed attention—no problem, we’ll just call an appliance repair shop to come out and repair all these things. However, it was 2021; COVID-19 restrictions were still impeding services, and most appliance repair shops advised it would be better to buy new. Some even refused to come out despite us offering to pay for their time. This was frustrating. Multiple new, high-end appliances were failing. Obviously, my need for function was not being satisfied.

I don’t like when things break down. I want the most reliable, maintenance free home as possible. So, I started my search for “the most reliable appliances”. I wanted to be sure that whatever we buy, it wouldn’t be a five year investment, I wanted something that would last for 10+ years. Note: Denaige and I have owned multiple houses over the years with appliances much older than these that never gave us problems. Expecting 10+ years from appliances is not (or at least, should not) be an over-reach.

4 Things I’ve Learned About Buying New Appliances

1. Appliance prices have been trending lower as a % of income for decades
2. Appliance longevity has been lowering for decades too
3. The biggest factors that impact longevity are the operating environment and the appliance’s build complexity
4. Brand names and price have little correlation with longevity of the appliance

The fact that having a brand name doesn’t equate with a durable, long lasting appliance is a characteristic that applies to just about everything. Most of us know that the most expensive item is usually not the best. The environmental factor was interesting. If you live near the ocean you should/will find that you have more problems with electronics due to corrosion caused by exposure to salt water. You will also find that if you have hard water (high calcium content) your appliances will fail much more often, too. The complexity factor made sense to me. Simply put the more bells and whistles your appliances have the more likely it will fail at some point. 

So, just focusing in on the appliances, if I wanted products that would last, I needed to look for simple appliances with fewer options. As it turns out, it is extremely difficult – maybe impossible – to buy a simple appliance (e.g., a fridge with no water dispenser or ice maker) in an upgraded finish like stainless steel. If you want a basic fridge… you get basic colour (yes… singular). In most cases the only colour option is white.

This is where our Form vs. Function dynamic plays out. I want simple… and she can live with simple, but can’t live with “Basic Bitch White” as we described it.

The end of the Calgary story was simple enough. We bought a new fancy Asko dishwasher (stainless steel and a 2 year warranty), and I managed to repair the other appliances myself.

However, now that we’re in Liverpool we, once again, have appliances failing. The only difference with this home is that the appliances are 20+ years old! We’ve got receipts. We’ve already replaced the dishwasher and the fridge. Since we haven’t even planned our renos yet, there is no sense in spending $$$ on fancy replacements. So we bought the most Basic Bitch dishwasher and fridge we could find.

And you know what? They work great. There is no water dispenser/filter (we have Brita pitchers). There is no “18 different d/w cycles”. These is no smart app to connect. The brands are mismatched – uh oh. But the upside is… they look OK, they were cheap (the cheapest in the store), and they function.

The economics are simple. If any of these appliances fail we could buy them 2 more times and still be cheaper than the “fancy” version. Obviously, not our goal from a sustainability and environmental perspective, but cost-wise, it’s doable. The kitchen, as it is now, pre-reno, is functional. The appliances look OK (I’ll stress the OK part here), and they aren’t as bad as you might think.

In the end, Basic Bitch White appliances are the way to go for me and I want to apply the BBL concept to everything. Buy what you need… avoid the bells and whistles… and have a less stressful life.