Do you have 2 Refrigerator's in your home?

**brenda67** · 03-13-2009, 11:26 AM

as most of you know we bought our first home last October that has a full basement.. we plan on putting the extra fridge that came with the house (put to good use) down in the basement..I've been thinking of what I'm going to use it for and the first thought that comes to mind is buying gallon's of milk in bulk..think 8 gallon's at a time(I buy from Sam's Club for $2.42 for Whole milk it's the cheapest price around) since my family of 5 our all big milk drinkers..when we have run out of milk we have a convience store not even a mile away so from our house so we endup paying $4.69 a freakin gallon..anyway I was also thinking of buying several dozen's of eggs too since this is another item we never seem to have enough of...

So what do you fill your second fridge with?

**MRAHoffman** · 03-13-2009, 12:05 PM

When I bought my house, I kept the smaller (not as big as my kitchen one, but not a dorm one either as it has a freezer on top as well) one from the boathouse at my lakehouse when I sold that in my basement laundryroom. I keep popsicles in the freezer for my son and his friends, extra milk, eggs, carrots, oj, etc. I LOVE it, not to mention when I make something for a party that needs to chill, I put it in there so it doesn't take up extra room in my kitchen fridge

Take care and God bless.

**WV_mom_of2** · 03-13-2009, 12:35 PM

I don't have an extra in the house but I do have a camper with one and I can plug it in and use it if I need to. The only time I do that is if we are having a party or something and I made alot of things that need to be chilled! I'd like to have an extra small one in the house. I would use it to stock up on yogurts, cheese, keep sodas and juice cold, etc. and keep that stuff out of my main fridge!

I do have two freezers though(well four actually if you count the one on the house fridge and the camper fridge LOL).

**YankeeMom** · 03-13-2009, 12:41 PM

We have two fridges. When we sold our house in AL, the buyers didn't want the fridge. Then when we bought this house in NY it came with a fridge. Our extra one is kept in the mudroom. The one that came with this house is in the fridge and it's a side-by-side. I hate it. The one in the mudroom is used to hold whatever doesn't fit in the one in the kitchen (which is a lot!). I tend to put our big boxes of eggs, big jugs of juice/water/milk in there.

**jamie79** · 03-13-2009, 12:57 PM

No I dont. I do have another freezer though

**thesightofoneself** · 03-13-2009, 01:02 PM

i have one shelf in the fridge and one in the freeze. neither is full.

i'm thinking when i move out to just buy a mini fridge. i dont know if i'll ever work myself up to a second fridge.

**brenda67** · 03-13-2009, 01:12 PM

Thanks for all your reply's.. I was also thinking I can store my dh's beer and other bulk items like big jar's of Mayo,Ketchup,Salsa.. Also I know it will come in handy for the Holiday's that I will be hosting this year..

**HomeschoolMom** · 03-13-2009, 01:26 PM

If it isn't a nearly new or new fridge I wouldn't bother. We have a 2nd fridge in our (indoor) porch and we finally unplugged it because it was just using too much hydro.

A couple of things I have noticed about not using the 2nd fridge.
1) I don't buy too much food - it would often go to waste anyway. I'd buy meat or extra produce and sometimes forget it was in the other fridge.
2) I am better able to plan shopping and meals because I am not running back and forth between fridges.
3) I don't miss it. DH just puts a couple of cans of beer in the fridge.
4) Our hydro usage has gone waaaaaaaayy down. Apparently the fridge and HWH are the biggest hydro users in the home. You'd have to weigh the hydro usage against the savings in milk costs. Unplugging the fridge and using timers on the HWH has cut our usage by 60+kwh/day. Our hydro bill will be cut pretty much in half.

We did keep the fridge because it will come in handy at Christmas and Thanksgiving but it is unplugged (and the door is left ajar for air circulation).

**2ndGenGranola** · 03-13-2009, 01:44 PM

We have a 2nd fridge that we recently brought in from the garage into the kitchen with the other one. (For some reason our appliances do not like the circuit in the garage). It is a little strange having 2 in the house but we are beginning to love it.

My kitchen fridge is a side by side. It tends to naturally run colder. I keep meats to use, left overs, condiments, things that are no big deal if they freeze in there. Meats and my "good" stuff are stored in the freezer part. My 2nd fridge naturally runs warmer and is a freezer on the top. I keep fruits, veggies, salads, water, pitchers of tea, flour, corn meal... in there. The freezer houses specialty flours, yeast, frozen juice, things that won't be a big deal if it warms (since bringing it in we have not had any more trouble with it to date).

**Laurie in Bradenton** · 03-13-2009, 01:44 PM

Two refrigs and one chest deep freezer. The extra refrig is out in the garage and holds extra drinks, Large canister of flour, rice, Crisper drawers hold potatoes and onions. Here in S. Floirda you can't leave potatoes and onions out or they'll be bad in a week. Not to mention the bugs that will find them.
I also use the garage refrig to hold large items like platters for parites and the insert to my crockpot.

Laurie in Bradenton

**Saydee** · 03-13-2009, 01:54 PM

We have 2 fridges also and a chest deep freezer. We keep the extra one in the mud room and the freezer is in the upstairs garage.

We have milk delivered to our house (doesn't cost any more than the store price) and keep it in the extra one. Also keep leftovers, drinks, and spices in the extra fridge.

We buy half a beef at a time and keep it in the deep freeze. I hate to buy meat in the store.

**brenda67** · 03-13-2009, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by HomeschoolMom

If it isn't a nearly new or new fridge I wouldn't bother. We have a 2nd fridge in our (indoor) porch and we finally unplugged it because it was just using too much hydro.

A couple of things I have noticed about not using the 2nd fridge.
1) I don't buy too much food - it would often go to waste anyway. I'd buy meat or extra produce and sometimes forget it was in the other fridge.
2) I am better able to plan shopping and meals because I am not running back and forth between fridges.
3) I don't miss it. DH just puts a couple of cans of beer in the fridge.
4) Our hydro usage has gone waaaaaaaayy down. Apparently the fridge and HWH are the biggest hydro users in the home. You'd have to weigh the hydro usage against the savings in milk costs. Unplugging the fridge and using timers on the HWH has cut our usage by 60+kwh/day. Our hydro bill will be cut pretty much in half.

We did keep the fridge because it will come in handy at Christmas and Thanksgiving but it is unplugged (and the door is left ajar for air circulation).

Thanks for your input...My new fridge (it will be delivered in 2 weeks
) is a side-by-side and I know there is'nt going to be enough room to store everything I need to buy in bulk..the extra fridge is not very old and is not a side-by-side however I'm not sure how old it is either! I have my 2yr old side-by-side fridge here at the trailer..(so we actually have 3 fridges) since you brought up such a good point on how much it will cost us using the older fridge it might be smarter move to just take the fridge from our trailer?? I will leave it up to my dhubby to decide which one will be more beneficial to us saving money...

**Grainlady** · 03-13-2009, 02:36 PM

No extra refrigerator or freezer here. Only our side-by-side refrigerator/freezer.

Apart from your furnace and water heater, refrigerators consume more energy than any other appliance in your house. If you use older models, they are generally considered "energy hogs" (worse if they are kept in a hot garage or shed) and the extra paid in utilities will more than off-set the bargains you stash in them. Yes, they are convenient, but there are alternatives. The more food you store in refrigerators/freezers, the more food dollars you stand to lose during a power outage.

Another point to ponder: If the new administration in Washington, D.C. gets Cap and Trade through, it's estimated we'll see our electric rates go up by at least 25%, if not more. Hubby and I had a discussion just last night about this. We decided we'd have to rethink using our side-by-side refrigerator/freezer, as well as all other electric use if the electric rates go up. We're not the Government, we don't spend money that's not there. We maintain a very tight budget because hubby is getting close to retirement and we'll need every dime we can put together.

If/when electricity goes up, something in our budget will get cut to make up the difference, or something that uses electricity will get down-sized or eliminated and that will be the refrigerator because of it's large share of energy consumption. We see how small the British appliances are compared to American, and we'll have to crunch the numbers.

**fixer** · 03-13-2009, 02:45 PM

Our second fridge is used for overflow. We use it to handle what it takes to keep us from going to the store. It is always full during gardening season with lettuce, squash, carrots, corn and whatever else we have on hand. We try to eat fresh while it is in the garden. Our "upstairs" fridge was just too full when that was all we had. I am sure it costs us more but the convenience is worth it since things no longer fall out onto the floorwhen we open the door.

**lisaflex** · 03-13-2009, 03:18 PM

we do. the 2nd is in the garage. frig is mostly beer, white wine, pop, juice boxes, gatorade, butter, cheese. frzr is filled w/ burgers, chix, steak, TJ's goodies. couldnt not have one! great when entertaining also