The Little Things: Refrigerator Filter Shopping
When we first moved into our home in 2003, we had to buy a new refrigerator. After much store hopping and measuring to fit in our tight kitchen, we ended up in the Sears showroom. We purchased a wonderful Kenmore side-by-side refrigerator with a water and ice dispenser on the door. Kenmore appliances are simply Sears-branded, but as you can probably guess, Sears doesn’t make anything themselves. Usually, their appliances are made by many of the larger appliance manufacturers.
When it was time to buy a new refrigerator filter 6 months later, I started to do some research to find the cheapest place to find them. Upon discussing this with someone (whom I can’t even remember to give credit), I learned that the first three digits of the model number inside the refrigerator on a sticker would tell me who the real manufacturer was. Ours was 106 and that turned out to be Whirlpool. (See this page for more model number references.)
Knowing the real manufacturer opened up the opportunity to buy refrigerator filters from stores other than Sears. I ended up purchasing from FridgeFilters.com, which is a basic Yahoo storefront. The filters come with instructions on how to reset the filter timer on the refrigerator, are packaged well and competitively priced. I find myself going back there time after time, even when my work refrigerator, also a Kenmore (really an Amana) needs a filter. There’s something about the straightforward, no frills shopping experience that keeps me coming back.
The store even has a place to enter a promo code upon checkout. When I searched Google to find one, I found a list right on the company’s website. That was moderately amusing, but hey, it got me $5 off. I chose the larger volume of 6 filters to get the best discount in addition to the $5 off and free shipping. We ended up paying $25.67 per filter, instead of the $34.98 and $39.98 options available from Sears.
Hey, it’s all about the little things. And yes, my life is currently really this boring that saving money on refrigerator filters make me happy. Stay tuned, though. Lots of stuff on the horizon!
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