Is it Worth Having an Extra Appliance to Keep Things Cool

Growing up I’ve lived in many different places and seen people do things differently.  As my family was rather poor we didn’t have much, so we were lucky to have the basic appliances.  As we grew older we had more and were able to afford bigger and better things.  The neighbors always did things differently, as did our friends.  One thing that always stuck with me was the number of appliances some people had versus others.  My best friend came from a large family so their refrigerator was twice as large as what I grew up with.  They also had an extra storage freezer which was usually filled with chicken, vegetables, loaves of bread, and popsicles for all the kids.

As I grew older, affording my own place, making friends and having parties I saw the benefits of having those extra appliances, as well as the negatives that went with them.  There are many factors that you need to consider before you purchase an extra appliance that you already have.  The first of course, is going to be storage space, and the next question you are going to ask will be, “Is it Worth it?”.

Freezer

The most common extra appliance that people purchase is a freezer, but before your rush out to get one yourself you need to ask yourself is it going to be worth it.  Do you need an extra freezer?  If you find yourself buying things that require freezing, and you always seem to run out of space in your freezer it could be time.  If you have a large family with teenagers, especially teenage boys, you might need the extra space a freezer can provide.  An avid fisherman will need a place to keep the fish if you don’t want them smelling up the kitchen.  A hunter might need a place to store the extra meat after a hunt.  And if you have a lot of parties where you might need to keep the frozen burgers or buns, a freezer could be in order.

Chest freezers are the most common and they come in small sizes as small as 4 cubic feet and get larger from there.  They are priced from $200 and up, with the average price for a decent sized freezer around $300.  They don’t take up a lot of power, although if you are in and out of it a lot you might have to defrost it now and then.  That’s the only drawback to a chest freezer, especially if stored in the garage.

Refrigerator

When there are more drinks than you have space for to keep cold, an extra refrigerator might be needed.  These are commonly found stored in the garage as an extra space to keep cold water, soda, and beer.  Larger families might use it for a variety of regular items as well, and may even keep it in the house near the first refrigerator.  If you have a lot of company, throw a lot of parties, or have a large family, you will want to have an extra side by side refrigerator.  The extra space is a blessing, and is much needed with more people in the house.

There are a couple of downsides to having an extra refrigerator that many people fail to consider or even realize until they own one.  The first is that it needs to be cleaned as often as the main refrigerator.  While it may not get mold and mildew if there are no vegetables or meats in it, the drinks can spill and cause a mess.  The second thing to think about is the energy cost.  Add anywhere from 10 to 25 percent to your bill with an extra refrigerator using up power.  The power is consistent, and the more it is opened and in use, the more energy it will draw from.

If you want to keep smaller refrigerators in the kid’s rooms however, they make dorm size refrigerators where drinks can be stored and a small freezer is often available too.  These run around a $100 while a normal sized refrigerator can go from $100, to $5000.

Portable Air Conditioner

The last appliance that people consider is a portable air conditioner.  While this is not for everyone, a large house that is ill equipped with air conditioning can benefit from one of these during the hot summer months.  These would-be places with just a wall unit instead of central air, or those with a broken air conditioner.  It doesn’t matter how big the family is, rather how hot the weather is.

A portable air conditioner can go as cheap as $300 but can sky rocket to as high as a $1000.  They are small units that do need to expend some exhaust so you will need to have a window to blow the air out of.  It comes with a slot that blocks the air from getting out though.  They are as loud as a fan, so the noise is not the issue, the power that it draws can be though.  These portable units use a lot of power and can multiple your electric by 100 %.  That’s right, it can double or triple your electric bill with just one of these units in use.