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We had the same dilemma as you when we needed a new dishwasher back in January of 2020. We had previously owned a Bosch and loved it, but wanted the Costco warranty, and Costco didn’t carry Bosch at the time. I’ve shared this in a previous post, but we decided to buy a Samsung through Costco. After 2.5 years, it started leaking. We had a repairman check it out, and a part that should be about $80 had broken, and it normally would be a very straightforward repair. However, the problem was that Samsung was no longer making that part, and according to the repairman, this was common practice for Samsung to discontinue parts (more so than other brands). We ended up having to replace the dishwasher, as we couldn’t locate the part anywhere. Fortun...

Thanks all. I definitely plan to contact the warranty folks before proceeding, but mostly wondered if anyone had advice/experience with this to ensure the smoothest transaction possible and the highest likelihood for reimbursement. As far as doing this once before with my dryer, that was just getting reimbursed for a repair, and getting reimbursed for an entire appliance seems different. But perhaps it won’t be.

We bought a Samsung dishwasher from Costco back in February 2020. We started getting a leak error on the interface a week or so ago. Had a repairman come take a look, and he informed us that we need a new part that would cost about $80 normally, but Samsung changed the way they make that particular part in their newer models, and so completely stopped manufacturing the old part. Our repairman said this practice is common for Samsung and LG with their appliance parts. Our repairman said he personally called Samsung, scoured Amazon and eBay, and cannot find the part we need. We will have to order a new dishwasher when our old one didn’t even make it to 2.5 years. We are extremely frustrated with Samsung. Questions: 1. Any options we are missi...

Not sure what the answer to your original question is, but on a related note, we also have a large disparity in temperature between our top floor and lower floors, and we have found that register boosters probably cool our upstairs rooms by at least five degrees from what they would otherwise be. If you give them a try, note that they do come in different sizes,so get the right size for your registers.

While these are card games rather than board games, I highly suggest the looking into the Crew (including the two-player variation in the rule book). My extended family plays a lot of games and this is a favorite.

Also adding the Game for a great two or three player game, and adding another vote for Hanabi.

I like that none of the aforementioned games take an overly long time to play a round, and the Crew is particularly fun because each round has an increasingly difficult mission to complete.

If you’re going with a classic, I’d go with That Darn Cat or the Love Bug (original versions).

I also found the new Chip n Dale Rescue Ranger movie entertaining, although perhaps most will have seen it by the time you hold your movie night.

Most Pixar movies are winners.

Disney sports movies can be great, like McFarland USA or the Rookie.

Good luck!

We replaced our furnace and a/c last year. We got quotes from several companies and ended up going with the one contracted through Costco, which provided a Lennox unit at a competitive price, and then additionally earned us a Costco cash card worth 10 percent of the price of parts and labor. Good luck!

As far as your question about experience with Delta’s ecredits, we had purchased the non-refundable main cabin tickets you refer to for a trip back in January. Our plans changed and we cancelled the tickets, and I have already used the ecredit to book a different trip (note that the ecredits are non-transferable and have to be used by the same initial travelers). The process was pretty seamless other than I think I had a hard time initially finding the link to click on to use the ecredits rather than a credit card when I went to make the purchase. Perhaps it was purposeful poor web design on Delta’s part, or perhaps my own stupidity.

My kids enjoyed the tour of the US Mint. It’s free but you do need to get tickets ahead of time.

I should add that not only was my spouse not present, but we did not have a notarized signature/form from my spouse, either. No issues.

I got a first-time passport for my minor child in early December. We paid for expedited shipping and had the passport in, I believe, less than a month.

Our appointment was also at the post office, but where we live we were able to get an appointment within a week. Sorry I have no advice on that front.

Maybe I missed something in the requirements, but my spouse was not present when I got the passport for our 16-year-old, and no one said anything. Are you sure you need both parents present?

I have no other advice or helpful ideas; getting the passport seemed very straightforward in our experience. Good luck!

We have had insurance through Amica for many years and their customer service has been great. It does seem like our rates are always increasing, though, (but perhaps everyone does this?) and I have been thinking it’s time to get quotes from other companies.

We do what some other posters have done and essentially cash flow the needs as they arise. I can give you our data point of what we have spent. Bought our house about 7 years ago for around $450,000 and is probably now worth about $800,000. We have spent over $50,000 in maintenance and upkeep. I agree with others that the age and the size of the home matters, as well as whether you tend to go for cheap, middle or high end replacements. Our home is about 4500 square feet, and so certain maintenance issues, like painting the exterior, cost a fair bit more than other homes might cost. Our home is around 20 years old, and while we naively thought it was a “newer” home and wouldn’t need as much upkeep for a while, we hadn’t thought about the fac...

Another vote for gardening or pickleball. I find both to be a fun challenge to improve my abilities. Have you considered getting into board games? There are many fun, strategic board games, from relatively older hits like Settlers of Cataan to newer games like Wingspan. Some can be played fairly quickly, like 30 minutes or less, and some take several hours. Playing strategic board games might not be what comes to mind when someone talks about developing a skill, but competing against experienced board gamers really is something akin to a skill. My brother-in-law, a busy medical resident, has an online subscription that lets him play almost any board game online, and he finds it a great way to unwind, especially when he doesn’t have anyone i...

Agree with going the referral route.

As far as using acquaintances goes, the attorney we used actually was a very slight acquaintance, which normally would deter us, but as we have many trusted close friends who rave about and use this particular attorney, we went ahead with using his services ourselves. We have been extremely pleased with him and his office.

Forgot to mention, OP, that you want to make sure your new tub faucet has high water flow or you could be looking at a very long time to fill your tub. I think our plumber specifically recommended going with a Roman faucet, as well.

We remodeled our master bathroom last year. As someone else suggested, we also tried sitting in some bathtubs at a bathroom gallery to see what we thought and found freestanding tubs to be surprisingly comfortable. We ended up purchasing our tub online from Costco. Our old tub wasn’t a jacuzzi tub but just a large soaker/built-in tub, and we were able to donate it to Habitat for Humanity. Good luck!

Thanks for the thoughts/advice, everyone.

Hello experienced travelers, I have some “changeable” but not refundable airline tickets for later this month on Delta Airlines. If I have to make a flight change, I understand I need to pay any difference in fare, but supposedly (unless I misunderstood) there is no actual fee to change my ticket. The tickets are “Main Cabin.” I went into my delta account to change the tickets, and the new flight I want is listed as costing a little more than $100 more for each ticket than my initial flights cost. However, if I am not logged into my account and simply search for the new flights I want on delta.com, the tickets for the new flight are listed as only $16 more than my initial flight. Any ideas for how to get that price? Or does anyone know if t...

I second those who recommend Yamaha or Roland brands for a digital piano, and also agree that weighted keys are the way to go in whatever piano you choose.

We have both an acoustic piano and a decent midrange digital piano. Both have advantages, but for a casual player, I think a digital piano should do the trick. If you decide to look into acoustic pianos, avoid the cheap or free pianos on Craigslist. While some may say otherwise, age is generally not a good thing when it comes to pianos; pianos do wear out and pianos that have not been maintained can be particularly difficult (and expensive) to get back into playing condition—some may even need a full restoration to be playable. Good luck!

I do plan to reach out to the owner and agree that is the way to go. I was simply wondering if the collective wisdom here had any insights/angles I had not yet considered. Thanks!

Last spring we booked a rental on Kauai for 8 of us for Spring 2022. This morning I pulled up the vrbo listing to read the reviews that have surfaced in the past few months, and I noticed a recent review mentioned that the home we have booked is for sale. I am now concerned that if the house sells before our stay, we could be facing a last minute cancellation by the new owners. (I am also concerned that if it hasn't sold, we may be asked to accommodate showings.) Finding a suitable rental for 8 of us was not exactly easy even a year ahead of time, and already inventory for our dates is less than 20% of what originally was available, so a last minute cancellation would put quite a wrench in our plans. We have already purchased our airfare, s...

Strangely enough (or perhaps not, as our home is almost two decades home and had all original appliances), our appliances died one by one last year. We really wanted to get a Bosch dishwasher to replace our old one. We had owned a few different brands in previous residences and the one house we lived in with a Bosch dishwasher outperformed the other dishwashers by far. However, Costco doesn’t carry Bosch, and we were seduced by the Costco warranty, so we got an LG dishwasher from Costco. It has been okay, but I thought the Bosch we used to have cleaned dishes better and wish we had gone with a Bosch. For our oven, we went with an LG built-in-wall convection oven from Costco, and it a bit of a nightmare. Sometimes it took an hour to preheat....

Agree that the Movie Bucket List is solid.

I would also add National Treasure and McFarland USA.

My family makes regular trips to the Oregon coast, including one just a few months ago, and have enjoyed many of the suggestions above. I would also be sure to add a stop at Devil’s Punchbowl (you can see it from a lookout but I recommend taking the walk down to explore inside the punchbowl during low tide) and Yaquina Head Natural area. Yaquina Head has wonderful tidepools, seals, and birds and also is best explored at low tide. Happy adventuring.

Do you happen to live near any Amazon fulfillment/distribution centers? A friend’s autistic son got a job a few weeks ago doing package sorting for Amazon. My friend said no interview was required and that is seemed he was more or less automatically offered the job, perhaps through a special program Amazon has in place. Good luck.