How to Save Money Around the Kitchen - Refrigerators and Freezers

Everybody's looking to save money these days, and our households are one of our biggest expenses. Whether we live in a small apartment and pay rent or in a large house and pay a mortgage, we have to pay the utility and energy bills every month (unless you're lucky enough to still be living with mom and dad!). Some of the biggest energy hogs in the house are our appliances, and those that reside in the kitchen are the biggest culprits of all: the refrigerator and freezer.

Let's take a look at some ways to make our kitchen appliance use more efficient and save money by lowering our bills.

Saving Money with Refrigerators and Freezers

These kitchen appliances are always on, so it's no surprise that they are the biggest power drains in the house. We're not about to stop eating refrigerated foods, so there's no reasonable way to eliminate their use altogether (and who'd want to give up those nicely chilled sodas and beers anyway?). But we can make our refrigerators and freezers more efficient. Here's how:

1. Keep your freezer full

It costs more to keep an empty freezer cold than a full one, so it pays to keep your unit stuffed full of frozen goods. If it's looking a little bare in between grocery trips, fill it with bags of ice to make it run more efficiently. This simple fix can save you $75 a year.

2. Keep the doors closed

Do you ever stand in front of the refrigerator with the door wide open while you ponder what to eat? You know that cold whoosh of air that embraces you while you're there? That's all the air your refrigerator worked so hard to chill falling out onto the floor (really--heat rises and cold air sinks, so the cold air literally falls out when you open the fridge or freezer). Once you've taken your sweet time selecting your snack, the refrigerator has to kick into high gear in order to chill the air inside again.

The obvious answer is to open the door as seldom as possible, and when you do go into the fridge, quickly get the item you need and close the door again. Keep track of what's in the refrigerator (it helps to always store the same types of items on the same shelf or in the same bin), so you don't have to get down on your knees and root around to look for things.

You can save more than $50 a year simply by opening your freezer and refrigerator doors fewer times a day.

3. Adjust the temperature

Your foods may not need to be as cold as you think. Most people set their refrigerator thermostats close to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but setting the temperature no higher than 40 degrees still keeps food fresh, while saving you $25 a year in energy.

4. Choose a chest freezer

Many large families choose to keep an extra freezer in the garage or on a service porch. Instead of getting an upright freezer for this, choose a chest-style model. Remember what we said about cold air falling out of upright models? Well that doesn't happen with chest models, since you open the door from above. Chest freezers are as much as twice as efficient as upright freezers, and making this simple choice can save you $50 a year.

5. Pass on the ice-maker if you're buying a new fridge

I know, ice makers are awesome. I always enjoy them when I visit friends who have them integrated into their refrigerators, but not only do you save money on the initial purchase when you buy a unit without these models, but you save money on your monthly bills too. Ice makers use about 300 kilowatt-hours a year in energy costs (this is in addition to your regular refrigerator/freezer requirements), and I can tell you from first-hand experience that refrigerators with automatic ice makers need repairs more often than standard units.

There you go: a few ways to save money in the kitchen by making smart use of your refrigerator and freezer usage.

The author writes on numerous home improvement topics. Visit her blogs to read more: Home Improvement Ideas and Living Off the Urban Grid.

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