Groceries - The Lightbulb Edition
It has been so long since I bought an incandescent bulb I forgot how truly inexpensive they are. The bulb in our refrigerator burned out, and since I don’t know of any “appliance version” CFL bulb (feel free to let me know in the comments if there is one!) I bought a two-pack of appliance incandescent bulbs today. I wanted to just buy one but there were only two-packs available where I shopped. They were in a display without a price displayed, so I trotted myself over to an automated price-checker stand to scan it and see how bad the damage would be, and they were only $1.84 for the two of them. My brain has officially switched over to thinking that light bulbs are a major expense.
To add injury to insult, when I brought them home, I felt around behind the screen in my refrigerator to find where to screw the bulb in (I had already removed it to see what kind of bulb I needed and forgot exactly where the socket was) and I accidentally stuck my thumb in the socket and shocked myself. Ouch. I am an idiot. At least no permanent damage was done, although I did screech and my hand still aches.
That all being said, this week I spent $52.55 at Aldi and $23.19 at Walmart for a total of $75.74. I didn’t buy any impulse items this week so I get a 0% racked up for that. Score! I was about $9 under my weekly budget this month, which will help offset some of my more expensive weeks. I hate that I spent so much at Walmart, because I only got 9 items there as opposed to 53 at Aldi. But wheat pita bread, Balance Bars, organic milk, and allergy medicine add up, I guess. I was happy I only got 9 items there though. Although I forgot peanut butter. That’ll just add to next week’s bill. 
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
You can also: Stumble It! Bookmark Submit to Reddit Submit to Tip'd
March 16th, 2008 at 2:59 am
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the regular old CFL lights work just fine in the refrigerator. If your fridge uses standard bulbs, just snag the smallest CFL you can find (try looking for “vanity lights”). Even if your fridge uses the smaller, “candelabra” sized bulbs, they *do* make CFLs that fit. Those are tougher to find, but Wal-Mart (at least around here) does stock one brand of them, and Home Depot & Lowes also stock at least one brand of them. The biggest thing to keep in mind is the overall size; the vanity bulbs are tiny round globes and are likely the best fit. The candelabra fixture lights tend to be elongated like the incandescents they replace, but usually still fit in the refrigerator’s fixture.
Downsides? The cold makes the bulb take longer to warm up and probably doesn’t help the bulb’s overall lifespan (it will likely die sooner than if it were in a regular fixture at room temperature).
Since you’re not in the fridge for very long at a time, the net result is that you’ll end up feeling like the whole thing is just a bit dimmer (not much, though). If you have the door open for more than 30 seconds (cleaning out the shelves/drawers, hunting for a leftover, etc.), you’ll have regular light.
The CFL bulbs that will fit in there really aren’t that much more expensive (they still save money in energy use reduction) than the standard ones, and despite the cold, they still do work just fine.
March 16th, 2008 at 10:07 am
You’re not the bearer of bad news, but I didn’t find a CFL that was the same size as the 40 watt “appliance” bulb. My fridge is 23 years old and the place the bulb screws into is a tight fit even for that appliance bulb, hence how I shocked myself. I only looked at walmart though.
People on the internet keep telling me that they’ve seen candleabra CFLs at Home Depot and Lowes but I have checked several times and ours don’t have them (we have a hall light fixture that is a candleabra one). I’ve even asked employees at both stores about them and they say they’ve never heard of them. I know they exist (I’ve seen them on the internet) but ordering them online for $12+ each plus shipping is not going to happen right now. We hardly use the hall light fixture.
March 16th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
An appliance bulb is not the same thing as a standard or candelabra bulb, and I’ve never seen a CFL version of one either.
I have gotten the candelabra sized CFL’s at Ikea, where I find all their CFL’s are cheaper in general, although they tend to be the less appealing very white light kind instead of the warmer light bulbs I have seen elsewhere.
YMMV though, as I am in Canada where they seem to be very popular and there is talk of outright banning incandescents!
March 16th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Our fridge bulb went out as well, actually just one of the two. We decided that we’ll see how long we can go without replacing it, none in the house. It isn’t like we’re in the fridge looking, only using it when we need something and usually natural light or kitchen light is enough to see anyway.
Aldi - I’m simply amazed at the deals people can get there. We have gone in a few times but never found any deals, maybe a couple here and there, just not enough to shop their normally. We can almost always get a better deal at Wally World or the grocery store watching ads.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Here I am, curious again about your dinner meals that you make on your grocery budget. I am 1 adult and 1 young adult and we make our meals from scratch. I am finding ingredients, more and more expensive. We do eat meat, but not much and I make quite a few 1 pot meals that include veggies, rice or pasta and maybe chicken.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
@ Jinger - I probably live in a cheaper part of the country than you do.
Most meals consist of a protein, a starch and one or two veggies or fruits. They’re pretty standard boring stuff. A 4 oz fish filet with broccoli and rice, for example. A tuna sandwich with a half a canteloupe. I don’t know.
I’m not too creative.