Appliances That Save Money

I'm going to assume if you're reading this, you're already pretty budget conscious and are already shopping the clearance section for your appliances. So, I'm going to skip the whole How-To-Not -Pay-Full-Price-For-Your-Appliances chat and dive right into the subject of Not-Strictly-Necessary but Really Awesome Alliances that can can save you serious dough over the long haul. If you have the up front cash (think tax return) these babies can make life quite nice and even cheaper. Apologies for the picture quality. Here we go:

Bosch Automatic Espresso/Coffee Maker:

I am not gonna beat around the bush, this bad boy was expensive. We paid roughly a grand for it after a particularly nice tax return. But, before you decide that I am nuts for putting this in a "budget living" post, let me explain myself. We go through quite a bit of coffee. It is sort of our thing. We actually met in a coffee house! Hubby and I drink it together in the morning while we review the day's agenda and if the weather sucks, we drink it in the afternoons while we chat on the couch. The Bosch uses very little in the way of beans and has also (nearly) replaced our trips to Starbucks. Here's the cost breakdown: before the Bosch, we went through about a bag of coffee per week. 7 bucks per bag x 4 weeks per month= 28 bucks We also frequented Starbucks about 3 times per week at roughly $10 per visit= $30 per week or $120 per month. YIKES! Total Monthly Coffee Habit Before Bosch: $148

I mentioned the Bosch is much more coffee efficient than our old drip maker. We now go through about 1 bag per month. Yup, that is it. The Bosch wrings out every last bit of goodness from an insanely small amount of grinds, which saves us $21 bucks a month on bagged coffee alone. We typically only go to Starbucks twice per month now, so we're saving a total of $121 bucks a month by owning this machine. That means that we will break even on our Bosch in just over 8 months of ownership and realize significant savings over the life of the machine, which should be at very minimum a good 5 years plus. Worth the initial cash? For my family, yes!

SodaStream Carbonator:

If you're into soda or Sparkling water (guilty) I can't recommend this machine enough. I can't remember what we were spending on our sparkling water habit before we got the SodaStream. For us, this purchase was more about having the ability to control the ingredients and eliminate the waste of single-serving cans and bottles from our recycling bin.

We bought a mid-grade model which cost us about 100 bucks up front and took advantage of a $25 rebate that SodaStream was offering at the time. The best time to find rebates like this is typically in the Black Friday through Christmas time frame. Each CO2 cartridge retails for 20 bucks, but after the initial purchase, you can exchange cartridges for 15 dollars. You just strut into Target's Customer Service and swap them out. With very regular use, each cartridge lasts our family about 3 weeks, meaning we fork over about 5 bucks per week for "fun water." The carbonating bottles can get expensive as they do need to be replaced frequently, but you can find them for significantly cheaper on Amazon.

Jacuzzi Tankless Hot Water Heater:

Note: I don't recommend Tankless unless you get the gas model. I just don't like the electric ones! you may have one that works awesome, but after my in-law's experience with an electric tankless, I just won't be going down that road anytime soon.

Again, this purchase wasn't really about the savings for us at first. We have limited space and lots of people, so the diminutive size of the tankless hot water heater as compared to the traditional model really appealed to us. We actually hide it in our pantry. I can't give you firm numbers on what we save on our utility bills and here's why: I lived in this house as a single person with a traditional hot water heater. Then, we (all 5 of us) moved back in with the tankless heater. All I can tell you for certain is that both our gas and water bills are smaller now for our family of 5 than they were when I was the only one living here. YMMV, but when your gas bill is literally only a few dollars more than the "basic customer charge" each month, I think our tankless heater kind of speaks for itself. We also love the ability to adjust the temperature of the water up and down at the touch of a button depending upon whether or not we need to soak or are giving the kids a bath. Definitely a cool and very convenient safety feature.

Disclosure: I have not been compensated in any way whatsoever for this post. We own these three appliances and love them. That is all.

Your turn: what "unnecessary" appliances do you own that save that money and make you happy?