I have always tried to reduce utility bills as much as possible, not leaving stuff turned on, not leaving stuff plugged in, etc...but the one thing that has never occurred to me is--a refrigerator. Besides keeping the settings as acceptably low as possible, and not leaving the door wide open, I've always just assumed there has to be a huge rectangular box sitting in the corner sucking electricity nonstop.
I have a very outdated full size fridge that has thermostat issues and is on its last leg. And I have another outdated full-size refrigerator stored away that works fine and could be a replacement for the dying one. I don't know how much these huge boxes cost to run. I guess I try not to think about it. I always see the sleek new ones in stores in the hundreds to thousand dollar price range, and cringe. They look nice, just way too expensive.
However, I'm surprised to see that you can get a larger-size mini fridge for pretty cheap. I don't think a tiny 3.4 cubic ft mini fridge would be easy to live with--it would require some serious downsizing. But I've seen some reviews where some people are pretty happy having a 4.6 ft in a studio apartment for one person. Wondering how doable this is. The Energy Star ratings on these claim to be $40-ish to operate per year--which I always assume are heavily exaggerated--but I would have to think would still be way cheaper than a full size fridge from the late 1990s eating up the electric bill?
I don't eat out much at all, I'm not one of those people who never has food in their fridge. At the same time, there is a lot of wasted space in my current large old fridge, that's using up energy 24/7. I don't even use ice trays or ice cubes. There's plenty to eat in there, but it could definitely be condensed down...way down, considering how much empty space there is because of the dimensions alone.
One complaint I've read is that a gallon of milk isn't easy to fit. It wouldn't bother me to transfer the gallon of milk to a couple smaller containers. I like to have some frozen meat and frozen vegetables. Dozen eggs, yogurt, milk, cottage cheese, deli meat, carrots, celery, spinach, mustard, mayo, salsa, chilled coffee, hummus, random stuff, etc...no need for cold water, no stacks of soda cans.
Obviously for multiple people, a family, this just likely wouldn't work. How comfortable is it for one person, though? I wouldn't want to have to stop buying specific groceries because they wouldn't fit in a smaller fridge, yet, it's starting to seem very strange to me that I've always paid an electric bill for a huge fridge that is half empty space being cooled, if you think about the empty space that's above all the items inside, on each rack!
Anyone tried downsizing their refrigerator? Seem like a significant impact on electric bill? For me, a more efficient full size fridge wouldn't justify the cost of a new $600-$1200 one. But a cheap mid size one--maybe so. Would save a little space, too.
Thanks for any input!
March 09, 2018 at 12:39AM
