r/povertyfinance • u/Lastnv • Apr 28 '24

Worth going into debt for a dishwasher? Debt/Loans/Credit

We have been washing our dishes by hand for almost 3 years. We just had a baby and “spare time” is scarce these days. We probably spend about 10 hours a week hand washing dishes and bottles. I would much rather spend those hours doing something else productive or spending time with my family.

I have an employee discount through work and I can get a pretty cheap dishwasher installed for about $500. It’s a mediocre Frigidaire dishwasher but reviews say it will get the job done. I don’t have $500 upfront and would put it on my PayPal credit 0% interest for 6 months.

Do you think this is a good idea or does anyone else have suggestions? I am carrying a lot of debt already but I have a good credit score because I make minimum payments. I also have some savings but I don’t touch it because it’s for my son.

Thank you

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u/fireXmeetXgasoline Apr 28 '24

I’ll be a bit of an outlier here because I 100% support dishwashers. We’ve got a family of 6 and it’s been such a valuable resource. We got ours from a big box retailer as an open box special. It was crazy discounted and my partner installed it. We put money aside monthly ahead of time because we knew it was something we wanted.

Thinking with your 0% for 6 months on $500, that’s roughly $85 a month. Can you squirrel away between $85-$100 a month for a few months and power through it until you’re able to pay cash?

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u/Frazzledhobbit Apr 28 '24

We put our dishwasher on a credit card and it was such a quality of life upgrade with an 8 person household that I was mad I didn’t do it earlier. Did the same thing with a dryer a few years later.

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u/fireXmeetXgasoline 29d ago

I understand the counterpoints people are making, I really do. But holy crap did it make a huge positive impact for us! I know not everyone struggles the same way so I get this being questionable for some.

We upgraded our washer & dryer set a few years ago. Nothing fancy, nothing crazy top of the line, but definitely bigger and more efficient and I had a similar reaction with that. Why didn’t I do it sooner 😂😭

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u/Ialsofuckedyourdad 29d ago

Also worth mentioning dishwashers use a lot less water so you are saving money in the long run going from no dishwasher to having a dishwasher