Recycle Your Old Refrigerator To Save More Money

My mom recently bought a brand new refrigerator to replace a ten year old one. She has been contemplating for quite some time but decided to purchase one since the old one is small. The old fridge is still running pretty good so she intend to keep it and put it in the garage.

I think this practice is very common to families where we always keep the old but still useful appliances in the garage. The idea is that she would be using this fridge to store sodas or other items that require cooling. The refrigerator would be very handy especially if there are parties going on.

However, the problem with doing this is that the old fridge is not energy efficient and it would cost her more to keep it than to purchase another new one. Old refrigerators tend to consume more energy than the newer counterpart since new technology are in place with better energy saving features.

Her utility company is Southern California Edison and the company is offering $35 rebate for recycling the old fridge with free pick-up. I am not sure if other utility companies are offering this kind of rebates as well but the amount is pretty decent in my opinion. According to Southern California Edison (SCE), not only that my mom can receive the $35 rebate but she will also enjoy approximately $280 in annual energy savings! So that would be a total of $315 savings in the first year alone. And guess what, my mom can use that savings to purchase another low cost fridge that is energy efficient should she need another one! The cheapest fridge at Costco is only $325.

So the question is “How would you know when to get rid of the old fridge?”

The best way to find out is to determine how much would your savings be by using the Energy Savings Calculator provided by Energy Star. Energy star is  a joint program of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the United States Department of Energy (USDE) helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices.

In my mom’s case, she is wasting approximately $280 with the junkie refrigerator. The new refrigerator only cost her $600. My mom would recover the cost of the brand new fridge in just two years time! Not only that she can enjoy the savings, she would have helped the environment as well!