While shopping at Sam’s Club today, we wandered past the washers and dryers. I paused, looked at one of the models, noted the price, and said out loud, “I wish we bought this instead.”

And just like that, our worst purchase of 2025 came rushing back.

The Backstory

Several years ago, we scored a used Samsung front‑loading washer from the family of an elderly woman who had passed away. It was a steal, and honestly, it served us well. In a household of seven, it endured more laundry abuse than any machine should reasonably face. By the end of 2024, though, it had started shaking violently during the spin cycle—like it was trying to escape the house.

So, being the responsible adults we pretend to be, we did our homework. Consumer Reports. Online reviews. Store browsing. Everyone insisted Samsung was terrible, despite our old blue trooper lasting for years. We were leaning toward LG and a top loader.

The Shopping Saga

When the day finally came, we took the truck to Lowe’s… only to discover they didn’t keep any washers in stock. Not LG. Not Samsung. Not anything. Everything was shipped. That annoyed me more than it should have.

Best Buy was next. They carried some machines in stock—just not the LG we wanted. Plenty of Samsung though. Of course.

I checked the Sam’s Club app. Same story: Samsung only. The much maligned Samsung.

At this point, we felt defeated. Sure, we could have ordered something, but we didn’t want to make another trip to pick it up. Delivery didn’t fit our schedule. We just wanted to buy a washer, load it in the truck, wrestle it into the house, and be done. Is that too much to ask?

Enter Menards, Stage Left

Before heading home, we made one last stop: Menards. The magical land where You Spend Big Money—er, save big money.

To our delight, they actually had appliances in stock. No LG, of course. But they had Criterion (made by… someone), Maytag, and Whirlpool.

And somehow, we went from a basic $450 LG to an $1100 Whirlpool (on sale, plus the eternal 11% rebate). It had a removable agitator and came in white or “millennial gray.”

It was shiny. Well… dull gray, but new. And the drum was HUGE—5.2 cubic feet compared to our old 3.5. With five kids, that sounded like salvation. Fewer loads! Bigger loads! Laundry bliss!

Reality Arrives

Then we actually used it.

Lint covered everything. Clothes weren’t coming out clean. The return policy? Seven days. We were way past that. Menards gives 90 days if unused, but only seven days for defects. After that, it’s between you and the manufacturer. This was definitely not a buy it for life purchase.

The Whirlpool works better now, but with caveats:

• That massive 5.2 cu ft drum is basically a lie. A full load triggers an error.
• We’re washing only slightly larger loads than before.
• The lint issue improved only after doubling our detergent.
• We now use more detergent than we ever did with the Samsung.
• The spin cycle leaves clothes wetter than our old Samsung ever did.

In hindsight, we should have grabbed the budget friendly Samsung sitting at Sam’s Club for $645.

Best Purchase of 2025

But don’t worry—2025 wasn’t all lint and regret. We’ll visit that soon as we continue reflecting on last year.