Not sure how long your refrigerator will last? Wondering how much you need to save for your next dryer? Today I’m sharing my easy customizable Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator. Available in both Google Sheets and Excel, this calculator does two things: 1) identify aging appliances and 2) sets a budget for replacement appliances.
Why You Should Budget for Replacement Appliances?
Major appliances provide a happy, well-run household. Or, at least until they break. Often we take our appliances for granted and forget to perform routine maintenance. Or we just don’t realize that the appliance is well past its lifespan. And then we find ourselves scrambling to either repair or replace it, usually, when we aren’t financially ready.
And replacing appliances isn’t cheap.
Understanding an appliance’s lifespan and its expected replacement cost helps you effectively manage your household budget.
Related Post: 3 Ways to Track Appliance Maintenance
Backstory
I’m an average homeowner with an, well, average intelligence. We have owned our house for almost 10 years. When we moved in we bought 3 new appliances (refrigerator, washer, dryer). Since then, we have only replaced the garbage disposal. The rest of the appliances pre-date our ownership. And I’m starting to wonder how long we have left on the remaining appliances….
So I designed this Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator to be a basic and straight-forward way to help us decide if and when we should consider replacing our appliances.
Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator
What does this Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator actually do? Using your appliance’s manufacturing date it determines:
- Whether an appliance has exceeded its life expectancy, and
- Sets a budget for its replacement
***Here’s the link to the Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator in Google Sheets****
If you prefer the calculator in Microsoft Excel, either try this link (I think it works) or email me at everydayoldhouse over at gmail. I’m a one-woman show, it may take a day or two to respond.
Disclaimer
Use this Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator as a guide, is not a guarantee and for educational purposes only. Numbers in this tool are also estimates (guestimates, really) so take with a grain of salt. If interested in sources used to determine average lifespan and replacement costs, scroll to the bottom of this post.
Ok, ready to work through the calculator? Check out this YouTube video or read below. Let’s go!
Step 1: Enter Information
You only need to enter information in the yellow highlighted cells. No need to touch anything else!
Enter two pieces of information into the Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator:
- At the top of the budget calculator (highlighted in yellow), enter the current year.
- Enter the manufacture year (or installation year if different) of your appliance in the yellow highlighted column “Appliance Manufacture Date”
(BTW, don’t sweat it if you don’t know your appliance’s manufacture date. Check out these 4 Ways to Determine the Age of Major Appliances.)
Pretty easy so far, right?
Step 2: Have Your Appliances Met Their Life Expectancy?
The Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator compares your appliance’s age to its average expected lifespan and spits out either a Yes or No. If a Yes, then it will be highlighted in red. (Scroll to the bottom of post to learn my sources of average appliance average lifespans.)
Still pretty simple, eh?
The Years Within Lifespan column shows you how much time your appliance has left compared to the average lifespan. A positive number indicates years over lifespan (aka not good), a negative number indicate years left (aka good).
This column is especially helpful if you have several appliances over their lifespans (which is our case). It can prioritize replacement of those who have the largest years over lifespan (i.e. consider replacing an appliance 8 years over lifespan over one that’s only 2 years over).
The last column calculates the year you should target to replace your appliance. If your appliance has met or exceeded its expected lifespan, then you will see a “Now”. Otherwise, the Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator provides an actual year in the future.
Step 3: Estimate Replacement Budget
The last section of the Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator estimates a budget to replace the appliances when they reach end of life.
The calculator provides 3 sets of potential replacements costs – low, high and average cost. For ease, I’ve also included an additional column that gives you an option to customize your own cost estimate.
This is where it gets a bit tricky, but stay with me.
Based on the number of years left on your appliance’s lifespan, the budget calculator determines how much you need to save each year. It’s probably better to explain via examples.
Example 1: Refrigerator Exceeds or Meets Lifespan
- Current Year = 2021
- Refrigerator Manufacture Date = 2004
- Refrigerator Age = 17 years (6 years over average lifespan)
Since the appliance is over its lifespan, the entire replacement cost is applied to one year. The replacement budget is $1,200 on the low end, $2,500 on the high end, and $1,850 on average).
Example 2: Refrigerator Still Within Lifespan
- Current Year = 2021
- Refrigerator Manufacture Date = 2016
- Refrigerator Age = 5 years (6 years left in lifespan)
There’s still 6 years left in this refrigerator’s expected lifespan, so the calculator spreads the replacement costs over 6 years, which equates to $200 a year on the low end, $417 a year on the high end, and $308 on average).
Wah-lah! What do you think?
This calculator showed me that several of my appliances have either exceeded to close to exceeding their lifespan. And it’s time to start budgeting.
In all honesty, I don’t plan to immediately replace an appliance just because it is over its lifespan. I’m going to wait until it breaks down (and then decide whether to repair versus replace).
But I will do start doing these 3 things immediately:
- Implement tips to extend my appliance’s lifespans for 5 years
- Research new appliances, getting an idea of recommended brands and available features (I’ve already done this for our dishwasher)
- Save for its replacement cost and add to your family’s budget sheet (free printout).
Data Sources Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator
Interested in diving into my sources for the calculator? (You big nerd you! ?) Here you go….
Expected Average Lifespan of Major Appliances
What do the experts estimate is the average lifespan of appliances? For this Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator, I compiled life expectancy (also called life-cycle) data from 3 different studies that estimated lifespan based on scores of product manufacturers and testing labs.
- Appliance Magazine
- National Association of Home Builders
- International Association of Certified Home Inspectors
This visual from Appliance Magazine (and Statista) is a great visual to understand lifespans of your major appliances.
Two things to note:
1. Lifespan numbers are merely estimates
Actually, more like guesstimates…. (or in technical terms, these numbers are for educational purposes only and are not guarantees, just guidelines)
The true lifespan of your appliances is subject to a variety of different factors, such as:
- Manufacturer
- How well it’s maintained
- Level of use (under- or over-used)
With 3 little kids in my house, I have to admit that certain appliances (aka the dishwasher, washer and dryer) are constantly in use, so they might fall into an over-used category.
2. Lifespan numbers are an average
In actuality, some of the studies reported a lifespan range. For example, one study estimated the life expectancy of a washing machine to be 5-15 years. The Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator uses 10 years, taken from the most recent study (and coincidentally the average of 5 and 15 years….)
Just remember, the numbers used in the Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator are merely estimates!
After doing this appliance lifespan research, I must admit was surprised. I expected these average lifespans to be a lot longer. And it appears that newer appliances do, in fact, have shorter lifespans than its older counterparts (don’t make ‘em like they used to!).
Average Replacement Costs of Major Appliances
The replacement appliance costs in the Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator are taken from the Homewyse Installation Cost Calculator for 2021. Homewyse is a “vendor neutral, comprehensive online reference for the house and home”. (To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Homewyse before, but now I’m intrigued.)
Homewyse provides a Low and High range of the cost of the actual appliance, plus delivery and installation fees. Note that these are ranges are for run-of-the-mill appliances and basic installations. Premium appliances and/or custom installations are not contemplated in Homewyse’s ranges.
Homewyse’s calculator is customizable by zip code, and costs vary by geographical area. Therefore, for ease, I rounded the replacement costs from my zip code in Massachusetts to the nearest $100. I also added a column in the Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator with a rounded Average replacement cost based on Homewyse’s Low and High ranges.
Or maybe you are interested in saving some money and buying scratch and dent appliances. If so, then subtract a factor from the expected appliance cost.
Note that like lifespans, replacement costs are just guestimates. These numbers (and actually the entire Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator) is for educational purposes only and should be used as a guidelines.
Still With Me?
If you are still reading this and use the Replacement Appliance Cost Calculator, I’d LOVE to hear from you! Did you like it? Have any problems? Suggest ways to improve it? I’d love to hear your feedback! (And if you found value in it, share it with your friends!)
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