It was past time. My garage freezer had officially become a power-sucking antique that was overcrowded, icing over and long past its prime. It was limping along, ready to bite the dust. It also required extensive defrosting at least once a month. Like I said, it was time, past time.
Sigh.
I knew it was time to buy a new garage freezer.
I quickly found out that unless it is a refrigerator, a stove or washer/dryer, you are not going to find said appliance sitting idlily on the shop floor of your ordinary appliance or DYI store. I went on line, read the reviews, good and bad, and settled on a new freezer. I then went out into my garage and measured and measured and measured once again. The freezer I had my eye on was much taller than the old one which I had silently named Sparky. Finally convinced, I then bought it, sight unseen, which was a first for me. I like to touch my major appliances and open and close them before I buy. I like to bond with something that costs me hundreds of dollars.
Then I waited. Head’s up frugal appliance buyers, the supply chain isn’t what it used to be so even though Home Depot promised me constant text and email updates for delivery, I received absolutely nothing but the initial delivery date. I had to call and get a better window than 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Even the day of, the delivery company was radio silent even though everything I was told said they would text me with updates. Nope. I did get enough intel from Home Depot to start tracking my delivery once I hit the window. Six deliveries ahead of me. That meant I could have waited hours before unloading and unplugging old Sparky. But I have a couple of large coolers and I had already done the work so I waited. True to lack of communication, the delivery guys called literally ten minutes before they were going to show up but I was ready. I pulled out a camping chair and sat calmly in my open garage thanking Sparky for all her years of devoted, frosty service. I was a little sad to see her go, at least until Gigantor showed up. The delivery guys were thrilled at my prep work. The old freezer went out and the new one, with a mere inch of headspace (garage door apparatus) cleared and went in without a hitch. And in record time.
A few frugal thoughts on new freezers. Most appliance vendors say to have a water line kit ready to install but in all reality, unless you are making ice cubes, you don’t need one. I certainly didn’t. In fact, it is just one more thing that can go wrong and require fixing so I never buy anything with an ice maker. My new freezer is incredibly power efficient and, true to what the delivery guy told me, it really was freezing cold in 15 minutes flat. I loaded him up (this one is definitely a he) and shut the door, no longer worrying about the door no closing properly the way I always had with Sparky. I had TONS of room. I gave my partner the top two shelves, shared the middle one and took the bottom two as my own. I still had tons of room and my partner now could cruise the freezer aisle of Gigantor and find what he needed, no longer complaining about overcrowding and not being able to find anything. Batter up Bob, you are on base. And now, when Bob finds a bargain at the grocery store and wants to buy meat of some sort, he has plenty of room. Everyone is happy.
The irony was, despite how HUGE Gigantor is, my partner sailed right by him after he returned from a trip. He was so taken by the cleaned up garage (hey, I was stuck out there waiting on the delivery guys so why not tidy and clean while I was waiting) he literally sailed right back Gigantor, much to the amusement of grand daughter Scarlett who was visiting at the time.
The name Gigantor comes from my childhood favorite cartoon which was called Gigantor, the Space Age Robot, no joke. It was my favorite cartoon and made me think robots and technology were both very cool. Tech and robots still are cool for me. I did get an extended warranty because had I done that with Sparky back in the day, I could have had the rubber sealing to the door replaced early on when it stopped sealing properly. I also had my old freezer hauled away for just $25 which is half of what it would have cost me to haul it myself to the dump which I did not want to do even if I had had access to a truck which I really do not. The hauling service, an option provided along with the delivery, promised to recycle it safely for the environment. I would have sold it had it been worth selling but as I pointed out, Sparky was not long for the world as it was. I felt trying to sell it, even for a few bucks, would have been unethical somehow. It simply was not going to be a good deal for anyone so I had it recycled. Hey, I am frugal, not unethical.
So how is this all frugal? Well, for one thing, my power bill already went down some $20+ and this when we are using the AC more with the warming weather. For another, my partner can now stock up on meat deals to his heart’s content, no longer do we worry about jamming something into an already crowded, inefficient freezer.
I also can now leverage the extra space Gigantor offers. My daughter gave me three, yes, large THREE bags of apples that someone had gifted her and she could not use before they were going to go bad. I quickly set to work making canned apples for apple pie and applesauce for my youngest grand daughter, little baby DuVessa, who is just starting out on solid food. I would like to state for the record that she clearly prefers my applesauce to bananas. Of course she does. But the frugal message here is that I can make huge batches of anything that might otherwise go bad, freeze, and can when I have the time. Savings add up over time this way and I keep Gigantor humming and well stocked. Over time, the savings add up.
So when it is time to replace an appliance, approach it the frugal way. Do your research, check the reviews, measure over and over, pick the most green and economical recycle option you can for old appliances and pick something that is not only a replacement but that saves you money in the long run.
thefrugallife 