These are market trends, not individual behavioral trends. We know that people do spend money during periods of inflation, because they understand that the relative purchasing power of their money is decreasing. The contrapositive of that is that they don't spend as much during periods of deflation, because their relative purchasing power is going up.

(There's also an error in assigning unit purchases like washing machines as a proxy for consumer behavior: consumers select within a purchasing category more frequently that then opt out of categories. In other words: deflation and inflation can determine how much you're willing to spend on a washing machine, rather than breaking your commitment to already purchase one.)