This old fridge costs a pretty penny to keep alive.

Well yes it is - to the utility company. My friend Jean was telling me she had this old fridge in her garage that she used for storing the over capacity groceries she purchased from those large warehouse club stores, beer, and other party incidentals. She got the old fridge from a rental house they were renovating. We had an interesting discussion on how much that old fridge was really costing to maintain. If she replaced the old fridge with a new, more energy efficient fridge, she would save $238 per year. For a garage fridge, she really doesn’t need anything fancy, and can pick up a more energy efficient fridge for under $500. The payback on this fridge is a little over two years. If Jean gets an extra $500, say as a bonus from work, or from her husband selling a couple loads of firewood, it would make sense to apply it toward a new garage fridge.

If you want to see what those old refrigerators are really costing you - check out http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=refrig.calculator&screen=1