We were having a girl’s night and I made several things in the microwave. I foolishly had a decorative cloth on top of it that blocked the holes in the back. It died.

After cooling off for 20 minutes, it decided to work again. That was November, 2011 and I decided to just keep using it until it died.

It would cook potatoes for 20 minutes and it would shut off after it finished. Even though I removed the cloth, it still did not like to run for a long time. It would cool off and turn back on after several minutes.

Tuesday night, I cooked potatoes and was surprised that it did not shut off. I put in some frozen peas to cook. When the timer went off, I took them out and found they were still frozen.

The lights were on, the timer was working, but it stopped heating.

At 6 am Wednesday morning, Mr. Frugalfish said, “Hey, you want to go buy a microwave before I got to work?”

“Sure!”

I found the one I wanted…it was large enough for a 9 X 13 pan to rotate. He said it was too big.

On the way home I explained about cooking in the microwave in the summer instead of the oven. He stuck to his guns.

Midmorning I got a text…”Do you want to look for one at Sears?”

“Sure”

“I’ll pick you up.”

“If you are going to pick me up, you have to buy me lunch.”

“Okay.”

I did my homework. I wanted to buy one that was made in America and I wanted to support the local store. I called and had them measure the inside to find one that would rotate a 9″ X 13″ pan.

The salesman took us right to it when we arrived and Mr. Frugalfish said, “It’s too big.”

(What!)

We looked at washers, because ours would be too expensive to repair and that will be our next purchase. Then we looked at freezers because that is on our wish list. We decided to discuss it at lunch.

It wasn’t until late in the evening that I understood what he meant by it being “too big.” The unit itself would cover the top of the dishwasher where it would sit. We would lose that little bit of counter space.

I didn’t want that. I compromised. I told him to get one the same size as our original microwave and then buy a cake pan one size smaller than the 9″ X 13″.

At lunch on Thursday he picked up a beautiful, white microwave. I secretly desired having a white one because all of my appliances are white. Of course, I plan on reducing his serving size based on the smaller sized pan! Lol (And we still are looking for a smaller pan.)

The point is, buy what you need, but the largest one may not be the best one for your space. We only spent 1/3 of the money we have in our appliance category in our savings account. Just because you have the money, don’t buy the most expensive one. Buy only what you need and keep talking it through until you understand each other.