At my old house I was vexed weekly by the washing machine, which didn't so much like to spin enough to get clothes un-wet in preparation for the dryer. Many a load I carried over to that dryer--on the opposite end of the basement, for reasons only dear old Florence might have known--heavier than it should have been. The dryer would retaliate by requiring me to run my loads through about a cycle and a half, or two full cycles. What did I learn from this? An abject lesson in appreciating what you have.

My wife only does laundry every couple of weeks or so, but I only have so many pairs of underwear and that requires more trips to the cellar. So I got first crack at the washing machine in the new house. The machine actually wasn't as small as I thought and accommodated my load just fine. The only hitch, I thought, was that my wife likes to use the liquid fabric softener while I prefer to throw those knobby plastic balls into the dryer, so I had to make sure I timed out the rinse cycle. No problem. Then it was time to put my clothes in the dryer, and I discovered that the washer's spin cycle... doesn't so much spin. At all.

The basket seems to have some play but it doesn't behave oddly when I move it around. When the lid is closed or the lid switch is depressed, the motor runs and sure sounds like it's trying to spin the basket, but to no avail. The first few times I tried to respin the load, I even saw water draining out of the hose so I thought it was working fine. But alas, the stupid thing is broken, and I had to load my quite sopping wet clothes into the dryer where they'll take at least two cycles to complete. The first dryer cycle is about halfway through at this moment, because I am exactly stupid enough to start laundry this late at night.

Meanwhile I took a look around Google. Apparently with Whirlpool and Kenmore washers (this is a Whirlpool), newer models use a direct drive system which thankfully does not involve belts, but a coupling instead. (I'm not positive this is a direct drive, but aesthetically it does not scream old model.) The standard coupling, unfortunately, does have a tendency to need replacing after a few years. It turns out this is a $14 part. Weigh that against a repairman coming to the house on Monday and charging something in the neighborhood of $70-$100 or more, figuring on about an hour of labor for a skilled professional.

So with that in mind, tomorrow after the game I'm going to attempt my first major appliance repair. In theory this is a simple job, as they go. It involves taking off the cabinet, removing the coupling (and keeping track of how it's connected so it can be reattached), driving to Lowes for a replacement if they're still open, replacing the coupling, and finally reattaching the cabinet. A mechanically-minded person could probably do this in under an hour if they had the part on hand. I'm guessing this'll take me around two hours or more.

Or, I could just buy more underwear and socks.