Bed and Washer

Last week Brenda took me to the shop where she had purchased her bed the previous year and I purchased the same model bed, except for the absence of underneath drawers.  The bed is sturdy due its construction of solid wood (rubber wood from Malaysia).  This week we assembled it and I am now waiting for the mattress.

On Tuesday Brenda accompanied me into Midland to help me select a mattress and bedding, and we had a productive day.  I purchased a middle-of-the-range Sealy "Jasper" mattress with top of the line protector which will be delivered on Saturday or Monday. We also purchased a set of warm flannel sheets.  I didn't need pillows because there are two brand new ones in the garage.

It's my good fortune to have gone into the bedding market in the last week on June because every bedding store was running stocktaking sales.  The bed was discounted to $600 and the mattress with protector came in at $1038 with free delivery.  These are pretty good prices for Australia in 2014, but they contrast with the  $50 or so that I paid for a ply board base on a wood frame and a mattress stuffed with kapok matting that I used from shortly after I left university in 1972 until 2006, a span of about 35 years.

Washer easy fit in X-Trail

Bed awaiting mattress

On the way back to the house I suggested that we visited the Harvey Norman department store's "seconds" shop, which sells superseded items and white goods with slight scratches and dents at a pretty good discount.  It was here where I had purchased my Bosch oven (superseded and undamaged).  I purchased a Fisher and Paykel “Washmart”,Model No WA70T60GW1 (http://www.fisherpaykel.com/au/laundry/washing-machines/washing-machine/WA70T60GW1/) which had been heavily discounted to $535,  This was a new unit that had been returned to Fisher and Paykel with a faulty pump which had been replaced.  It is of modest size (7Kg) but should be sufficient for my needs.  Powering up the machine is like starting up a computer, and its features represent a jolt to me, who has been using an ancient twin tub for the last 35 years.  The machine uses a direct drive motor (http://www.fp.fisherpaykel.com/direct-drive-motors/history.cfm) which runs incredibly smoothly and quietly.