It’s Time to Replace the Junk

Junk may not be the word to use when referring to sagging mattresses, washing machines that just “sort of” wash clothes and refrigerators that seem to think constant squealing is part of their job description.

I shouldn’t call these things “junk” because they did serve their purpose for a time.

Let’s face it: we didn’t have money to buy nice appliances when we moved up to the Mountain Farmstead. Nearly every penny we had went into a large down payment, so we could get the land, bring in water, power, septic and build our little cottage.

We had no choice but to buy (or scavenge) well-used appliances for our brand new home.

For the first few years, our new cottage sported old items like a washing machine that sounded like a jet taking off, a used bathroom vanity whose sink had cracks in the finish, a free, whining fridge that I not-so-affectionately named Freddy, the old wine fermenting bucket that was used for a garbage can in the kitchen…and the list goes on!

That’s just the inside of our home. Don’t even get me started on the land with it’s makeshift garden fences, the gravel-less driveway that turns into a mud pit in the spring, or the logs, the piles of rock or the scruffy “yard” that we have!

No, we won’t go there.

I don’t know if it’s my pregnancy, the uncertainty of whether or not I’ll have the energy to care for a baby or if it’s just “appliance fatigue.” But the other day, I got fed up with more than a few items in our house.

Really fed up.

I was tired of dealing with back pain caused by our failed mattress (and was weary of waiting for the company to do something about it). I was done dealing with our whining, squealing fridge when it started freezing all food on the bottom 3 shelves. I was frustrated with our washing machine when I’d pull out “washed” clothes that didn’t look any cleaner than when they went it.

And I was tired of seeing my man use his precious, at-home time to fix old appliances!

So the other day, I gave up.

I was tired of dealing with the junk.

I told my man I wasn’t going to do any more laundry until we got a machine that properly cleaned our clothes. I didn’t want to go grocery shopping again until we had a fridge that didn’t freeze our food. I told him I was feeling overwhelmed, fed up and defeated by so many things in our home.

Like my Bosch blender that cracked and seeps liquid every time I used it. Or the shower curtain I’d bought several years ago that wasn’t wide enough for our shower and allows water to drip out onto the floor. There was a large rubber mat I wanted in the entryway of our home, to catch dirt that’s otherwise tracked into our bedrooms and throughout the entire house.

My energy has been lower since I started growing our baby, and things I used to be able to keep up on…well. I don’t have the energy for these things anymore!

So dear husband, it’s time to replace the junk with things that actually do their job well, so I can stay on top of things here in our home.

I don’t think my man understood how strongly I was feeling about it all, until I started drawing lines. Once I did, he (just like a man) understood that my requests were serious and urgent.

And so began the journey of replacing junk with much nicer (though still used) appliances that actually worked.

My man took the lead and started removing items from our home that so burdened me.

He found us a washing machine that cleans clothes beautifully. He bought us a fridge that actually works and has the space we need. And he kept going at the mattress company until they gave us in-store credit so we could replace our saggy, failed Beautyrest mattress with something a bit firmer.

My homemaking life has been growing easier with each change.

I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see clothes and bedding actually come clean in the washing machine, without doing a double run!

It’s wonderful to be able to put food on any shelf in the refrigerator (vs cramming everything onto the top two shelves) and know that it’s safe and won’t freeze on me.

After months of sleeping on a small floor mattress at the foot of our bed, I finally get to crawl back into our bed, comfortably sleep beside my man and awake in the morning without lower back pain!

We’re slowly replacing the “junk” with nicer items that actually do their job well. And it feels amazing to be waving goodbye to the age of the junk.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful. This “junk” did serve us well for a time. But with the new season we’re entering into, we need to make a few things easier on ourselves.

And so we continue upgrading and changing things out as finances allow.

I think it’s time and in some cases, long overdue! And it feels good to be moving into a new phase in life once again. One where washing machines and refrigerators actually work and I can accomplish more with less effort.

Because every homemaker needs that, don’t they?