WASHINGTON — You probably have a broken household appliance collecting dust somewhere. And chances are you're never going to take the time to find a repair shop to fix it.

These days, folks just figure: Why bother? As prices continue to come down on many appliances and electronic equipment, by the time you pay to repair something, you're halfway to buying yourself a new and improved washing machine, microwave or DVD player.

In its latest repair-or-replace survey, Consumer Reports confirmed what most of us already know — the repair road is a costly and often frustrating trip. Nearly half of the respondents said they didn't seek repairs or they quit along the way.

It took me several days and many phone calls to find a repairman who would make a house call to diagnose and fix my 10-year-old, 32-inch television with a sound problem.

For a second, I thought: Why bother, because repair costs can be daunting. But as it turned out, it cost $80 to fix the $900 set.

Consumer Reports found that readers paid as much as $500 to fix projection TVs, $400 to repair laptop computers and $180 to fix digital cameras. A front-load washer typically costs $350 to service.

Consumer Reports' basic advice is not to bother repairing any product for which you paid less than $150, or if the repair bill is going to be more than half the price to replace it.

In many cases, "it is now cheaper to replace rather than repair," said Ron Sawyer, executive director of the Professional Service Association, which has been tracking the decline in repair shops. Between 1992 and 1994, the number of electronics-repair shops has dropped from 20,014 to 7,168, according to Sawyer. The number of appliance-repair shops has declined as well, from 18,546 to 11,620.

Still, if you think it's worth your time and money to repair a product, follow this advice from Consumer Reports: