I’ve shown and told you about how I’m loving the space in our new Frigidaire refrigerator. I’ve told you how in love I am with the water and ice. And now I have to tell you something else that I’m loving: energy saving!

I’m sure those who have read my blog for any time know that my family is concerned about our impact on the environment including how much energy we are using on any given day. As we have been replacing things in our house and adding others, we have been trying to buy energy saving appliances and fixtures. As an example, our new windows saved us a great deal of money on our heating bill this last winter. While I don’t imagine our new fridge is ever going to save us $80 on an electric bill, it does have some cool features.

Want one? Check this out. Thanks to the Energy Saver Plus Technology, if my refrigerator door is not opened for 24 hours and the refrigerator system is set to the 12-hour defrost cycle, then the system automatically goes to a 96-hour compressor run time defrost cycle to conserve electricity. I know some of you are saying “when is my fridge ever not opened for 24 hours?” Answers: in March when FireDad and I go away for our annual weekend away. In July when we go camping for ten days. In August when we go on vacation. Any time we spend the weekend at The Farm. We turn off the AC while we’re gone but now we’ll be saving a little bit more thanks to a smart fridge!

More over, this fridge is the top of the line when it comes to saving energy. The whole new Frigidaire line just received the EPA’s prestigious 2010 Energy Star award for their “Swap and Save” Energy Star Promotion. The award recognizes Frigidaire’s commitment to smart energy management and its efforts to share the importance of energy efficiency with a wide audience. You can learn more about that on their site.

On April 30th, I’m going to show you a video of a few other great things about our fridge. Included in the video will be the handy alarm system, the ability to turn off the panel, one thing that makes me a bit bummed and other key features. Be sure to come back for a video Tour of The Fridge! WOO!

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[Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.]

We plan our meals and grocery shop in two week intervals. Save for the stop for bread, milk, bananas and other perishable produce at that mid-week mark, we have one huge grocery shopping trip every two weeks. It used to pack our old refrigerator to the gills. So packed that sometimes the door wouldn’t shut properly and we’d have to rearrange things to make it fit. Our freezer wouldn’t hold everything and some stuff would have to be sent down to the deep freezer in the basement.

We don’t have these problems anymore. See?

On the top shelf? Three gallons of milk (why yes, I do have calves in my house, thankyouverymuch), a gallon of orange juice and a half gallon carton of some juice that FireDad decided he needed. Our second shelf holds a bunch of BigBrother’s Naked juice which has probiotics and thus help his picky-non-vegetable-or-fruit-eating intestines stay, shall we say, regular. And a big tub of butter and two things of Parmesan cheese because, well, I like it. Behind that you’ll find a few things. The next shelf is our eggs and leftovers shelf. I love the leftover shelf. Not only does it hold leftovers but it holds the tupperware that my salad fixins go in: chick peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, hard-boiled eggs, chicken and so on. Occasionally this shelf sees some overflow to the shelf above. The next shelf brings more juice (though that apple cider was for a recipe), lots of yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, applesauce and apparently some kielbasa that I was set to make that night!

Then comes the first drawer. It holds shredded cheeses, cheese sticks, cheese, lunch meat and hot dogs. It also has a chilling function slider and if you slide it too far, your shredded cheese will be frozen together. Ahem. We have found the proper setting and now have cold but not-too-cold shredded cheese. Hooray!

Then comes the split drawer for veggies and fruits. Fruits on the left (grapefruit, apples, oranges, grapes and even a container of cut cantaloupe have all fit at once). Veggies on the right (carrots, parsnips, celery, tomatoes before they’re cut, cucumbers before they’re cut and a container of salad are all currently hanging out).

And then the beer drawer. You don’t have one? Uh, us either.

The door, of course, holds all of our assorted condiments, jellies (those are new!) and what not. Including a BIG BOTTLE of Guiness. That was for cooking. I swear. No, really. I swear. Extra Stout Guiness is not for drinking pleasure. Just cooking.

I forgot to shoot the freezer but it was equally full but not-too-full.

In short, what I want you to gather from this post is that I have found a way to make two weeks of food fit comfortably in the fridge and freezer. I don’t have to slam, shove or otherwise freak out if we have leftovers. There’s room. I have enough room for our strange and wide array of condiments and they don’t take away room for yogurt, leftovers or massive amounts of milk. Because it’s so lovely and bright and spacious, I can also find what I’m looking for in the fridge in a relatively short amount of time without yelling, “HEY! WHERE’S THE LEMON JUICE?”

I’m in love.

In about two weeks I’m going to do a video about the fridge and some other great things I’m loving about it… and one that makes me laugh. Be sure to come back!

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[Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.]

As I told you before, we have been included in Team Refrigerator for Frigidaire’s pairing up with Mom Central. It took awhile due to the Winter That Will Not End but our fridge was finally delivered last Saturday. I wasn’t home as I was at work but FireDad said that the installers were polite, knew their stuff and got the job done. My sneaky husband didn’t tell me that it had been delivered and installed so I came home from work, opened the front door, started up the steps and squealed like a little girl.

I’m in love.

I’ll have better pictures of the front of it once we get our trim work done in the kitchen. (Remember? We’re also doing a semi-remodel of our kitchen at the same time. We like to live in chaos.) We’ve now had the fridge for almost a week and I can tell you a few things that I really love about it. The size, the adjustable shelves and the freezer side are all great.

But I’m kind of easy to please. I’m loving the water and ice maker. I didn’t have that before and now I do. It’s funny, though, trying to get your mind to wrap around a new place to get water from instead of the tap. LittleBrother asked for water the other day and I got it out of the sink, walked back across the kitchen and said, “Oh yeah, filtered water, right there. Duh.”

I love also that the control buttons lock. Do you know why? Little hands like to press buttons. Press the control lock button and not only are the buttons for things like temperature disabled but so are the water and ice functions. That way, little hands can’t run by and press the water supply and get my (new!) floor all wet. However, if I forget to lock the controls, the water will turn off automatically if you have the thing depressed for three minutes. So only a couple of inches of water on the floor, right? Right.

I think in my next post I’m going to talk a little about why I love certain shelves. You wouldn’t think that shelves, especially adjustable shelves, would make such a difference in food storage and such but, wow, I’m seeing a difference already in how easy it is to find everything. But more of that next week. I’m going to relax with a nice glass of water, which, by the way, I’m drinking more of now that I have ease of use and a nice filtered taste. Who knew my fridge could help me with my weight loss goals?

Yep. In my Hot Dog Shoppe cup. Booyah.

My next post will be later this month. Stay tuned! I’m sure I’ll learn even more about my fridge in the meantime!

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[Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.]

An exciting update: I’m a Frigidaire Test Drive Mom!

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of that, however, I do want to tell you about some stuff. I told you before about the new Frigidaire appliances that are supposed to save moms time and money. I also told you about how Jennifer Garner, in all her awesomeness, paired with Frigidaire to create the Make Time for Change campaign that raises money for Save the Children. They’ve decided to kick off a new campaign to continue to help Save the Children. It’s called Spin and Win.

Basically? You visit Make Time For Change, take a spin and see if you win anything. You could win a new Frigidaire Affinity washer and dryer. (Have you seen it? Go to the site. That blue? Wow.) There are also great gift cards that encourage you to “curl up with new books” or “get outside and play.” I’m all for gift cards!

Plus? Here’s the real bonus. Every day you take a spin, Frigidaire donates $1 to Save the Children as part of their $250,000 commitment to this worthy cause. It’s kind of win-win, especially if you actually win.

Now that you know about that, I suppose I should tell you about my involvement with Frigidaire. I’m getting a new fridge! That’s right! A brand-spankin-new stainless steel wonder of an appliance. We’re thrilled. In fact, we’re so thrilled that we finally decided to finish our kitchen.

Let me explain. When we bought our house in 2006, it was “move in ready.” We painted and have since been fixing everything that the previous owners did wrong and/or covered up to sell. The kitchen cabinets were brand new and the appliances were tolerable (though we bought a new stove). But we only painted one wall in the adjoining dining room and wanted to redo the floor and never figured out the backsplash and eventually came to hate the color we painted the one wall. Did I mention we had cheap linoleum on the kitchen side and carpet in our dining room? A mess. Thanks to this partnership with Frigidaire, we’ve been inspired to finally finish our kitchen project! I’m getting new flooring (laminate honey colored oak to match our cabinets) and we’ve already painted (a nice dark tan/light brown that warms up the room) and we finally, after four years, agreed on a backsplash, though that has yet to be purchased and done! Needless to say, we’ve been watching a lot of HGTV!

Our new refrigerator is set to be delivered at the end of February. I can’t say whether we’ll have the backsplash done but the flooring and subsequent trim work should be completed by that time. In fact, the flooring might be done this weekend! And I may or may not have found new curtains for the back window. (Help?) I’m excited to share our semi-remodel with you as well as how we’re loving our new fridge over the next few months. I’m hopeful that by the time this Frigidaire Test Drive is done, we’ll have a kitchen that I love to be in since, of course, that’s the room where everyone congregates!

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[Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.]

Today Frigidaire has named Jennifer Garner as their new celebrity ambassador. If you’re not familiar with her work, you should give her a try. That said, they’ve not chosen her because she’s a stunning and talented actress (though she is) but because she’s a busy mom. Like me. Like you. Sure, her busy stuff is slightly different than my busy stuff but, let’s be honest, busy stuff is busy stuff. She’s come on board with Frigidaire to help launch their new line of appliances that help mom save time. Yes please!

What I love best about this pairing and the new appliances is the fact that they have paired with Save the Children, a non-profit group that helps kids. Here’s a bit more info about how they’re working together.

Frigidaire and Garner are asking Moms to think ahead to November 1st – the day all of us change the clocks and get an extra hour – and pledge to use that time to help make a difference in the lives of children. Save the Children created the CHANGE program (Creating Healthy, Active, and Nurturing Growing-up Environments) to promote healthier lifestyles for children living in poverty by providing nutritious snacks and regular opportunities for them to be physically active.

Starting today, everyone who goes to Frigidaire.com and raises her hand with a pledge to make time for a child, will commit Frigidaire to donate $1 to support the CHANGE. As an added bonus, everyone who pledges her time will be entered for a chance to win a new Frigidaire Professional double wall oven.

I love a program that encourages children to eat healthy and to be active. How will you plan on helping a child in your community? Will you take this idea to your local schools? Will you reach out to an after-school program with some healthy snacks? Will you mentor a youth in your community? The ideas and options for you to help a child are endless. What will you do?

In addition to the double wall oven that Frigidaire is giving away, Mom Central is also giving away one as well. Simply hit up their site and tell Mom Central how you plan on giving back to children in need. Mom Central will pick one winner at random.

I encourage you to Make Time for Change with Frigidaire, Jennifer Garner and Save the Children. Who knows, you could end up winning, save time in the kitchen and have even more time to give back to children who so desperately need you.

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[I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.]