The following segment aired on The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television. Joining the show was Lori Wood and Michael Burti from Sears to discuss how to get the most for your money with appliance deals.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television Host Danielle Knox:  Stretching our dollar is a top priority these days, so ‘The Balancing Act’ on Lifetime Television has invited Lori Wood, Laundry Buyer, and Michael Burti, Refrigerator Buyer, both with Sears, to help us save some green on our next appliance purchase. ‘Show me the money’ is a mantra that a lot of Americans are chanting these days.  When shopping for appliances can we do well in both price and value? Is it possible to have both?

Wood:  Absolutely, value is different to every consumer and we offer over 3,600 appliances at Sears, so we really do have a value that’s meaningful to every consumer. No matter what their budge is, no matter what the size of their wallet is, we have great products at every price point, from the top of the line down to whatever price point the customer is interested in spending.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: Times are tough for so those price points may be lower for many of us. Do we have to sacrifice performance for price?

Burti:  Absolutely not.  You don’t have to sacrifice performance.  You’re probably going to have to sacrifice some features if you’re on a budget, but that’s okay.  I think what it’s going to come down to is having to do a little bit more research ahead of time, really trying to understand what features you have to have and which features you can live without.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: How important is it to do your research, especially in these economic times?

Burti:  Without a doubt, if it’s an appliance then you are going to be living with it for a long time. You want to make sure that you’re going to be satisfied with it and that it is going to meet all of your needs.  Definitely do the research ahead of time, making sure that if you’re on a budget that you are going to get all of the features that you expect to get out of the appliance.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: It seems like every day a new energy-efficient appliance pops up.  More and more, people are thinking about this. More and more consumers are heading towards buying these kinds of products. 

Wood: it’s a great way to go when you buy a new appliance and especially important because you will have it for a long time.  Today’s appliances are more energy-efficient than they have ever been.  In addition to saving water and saving energy which is so important, it saves you money so your utility bills are less.  The machines on the market today, like dishwashers use so much less water than before that they actually use less than if you washed dishes by hand.  And in a washing machine you can fit 25 bath towels in one load so you can do that many less loads of laundry.  They spin so fast that they take most of the moisture out of the clothes so you are also using your dryer for a lot less time.

Burti:  The appliance industry has come a long way and it’s really interesting to see all the things they’ve done to help save both water and energy.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: I think the other important issue that a lot of us out there are worried about is the value.  Great value in important but the next question has to do with warranties and service.

Burti: A good thing about purchasing an appliance at Sears is the fact that we have our own service organization and when you make a purchase at Sears, your appliance is covered for a full year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, support on the phone and certainly if you need service, we have 10,000 trained technicians that are available 7 days a week for service.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: How does Sears stack up to its competitors in terms of affordability and quality?

Wood:  We would like to tell you that we’re the leader in the industry as far as selection of appliances overall, especially as far as selection of energy star appliances.  And with the service organization that we just told you about, we can give you service and assurance with our price match that no one else can do.  You can go to sears.com for more information.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television is the only morning show in America produced by women specifically for women. Every morning, The Balancing Act on Lifetime hosts Danielle Knox and Kristy Villa tackle the issues that face today’s woman. Popular show segments include Live weather updates with Mark Mancuso, surprise celebrity visitors, and news about the latest trends affecting your life, home, career and family. The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television airs daily on Lifetime at 7 a.m. ET/PT. For more information, visit The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television’s website at www.thebalancingact.com.