It is crazy, huh? DBF and I just went through that about a year ago. Luckily, one of his friends mom was getting rid of hers and we got it for $100. It was a year old. There are deals out there. We got a really nice washer that was less than a year old for $200 on craigslist. It was still under warranty too and the guy gave us all the paper work.

Scratch and dent places are great as well if you have any near you.