Making Big Purchases on a Budget

We had to buy a fridge last week and I was not happy about it!  We had noticed that our fridge was not keeping things as cold as normal.  Milk was souring and the pork chops I had planned for dinner went rancid.  Our fridge came with the house when we bought it and I have no idea how old it is.  We tried everything we could think of to fix it.  We researched the problem (the freezer was also dripping water into the fridge) and tried all of the suggestions.  We scoured craigslist to find a fridge used.  I found that most people had really old fridges for about $75.  That would work well for a spare fridge maybe, but I didnt want to spend near to a hundred dollars and then have it go out within the year.  Craigslist also had nice used big stainless steel fridges for a few hundred dollars.  We ended up buying a new fridge from Lowes for under $500.  Its just a basic fridge, no icemaker or bells and whistles.  But it keeps food cold, and ice frozen and I couldn't ask for more from a fridge.  Lowes offers free delivery which is what sold us.  Hubby spent his evening after work switching the way the doors swing.  Now I am so pleased to open the door and have cold food.  I even bought a gallon of milk since I am no longer afraid of it spoiling the next day!  Yay for cold milk!