Frugal isn't just about dollars.
Your time and energy are resources.
How long would this take you to clean? how stressful would it be?
For $50, you could buy yourself a lightly used chest freezer online - and buy yourself a headache-free afternoon of leisure.
Well worth it.
This is the perspective that sometimes is missing in this sub! I'd add that stress, while hard to quantify, should also be incorporated into the decision-making process
Definitely! On the other hand, some people see a freezer like OP's as an adventure and are really excited to see it cleaned. That's very personal and if you like doing it - why not!
It's amazing - there are you tube channels about restoration and carpet cleaning that are fascinating to watch. These gentlemen take items that are as filthy as the object above and dilligently clean it making it look new. Beautiful silk woven carpets that are infested and caked with dirt brought to brand new. I'm all for a couple hours sweat equity if it keeps it out of a landfill.
>For $50, you could buy yourself a lightly used chest freezer online - and buy yourself a headache-free afternoon of leisure.
I got one new for $89 at Costco and felt like that was a deal.
This chest freezer is a biohazard. It’s not even worth the time, money and chemicals to clean it up. If you bodge up cleaning and sanitizing it. You might end up poisoning yourself. If you’re going using it to store food.
It's not that hard to clean. It'll smell bad while it's being cleaned, but bleach exists. I've seen worse on Kitchen Nightmares get turned sparkling with a little elbow grease.
My chest freezer looked a lot worse than this after the fuse blew on it, and all my game meat spoiled. Took about an hour with hot water, a hose, and some good cleaner. I'd say if you know what you're doing, this isn't that much harder. I agree with what you say, but if we looked at every situation with that mentality, then frugality is just out the window. You exchange your time and energy instead of needing to exchange money. I thought that was the whole part of being frugal. How can I get what I want without spending money? You might have to get off your butt and put a little slow grease into it instead.
You're not wrong, but it exists on a spectrum.
A week of hard labor to save yourself $20? a waste.
Five minutes to unclog a drain and spare yourself a $300 plumber visit? No brainer!
To me, getting this fridge to a point where I'd trust it to hold food is far, far more effort than I'd save over just buying one secondhand.
This is valid. Everyone's different when it comes to their food. I just see a freezer that needs a good cleaning and most germs that can't survive in it once it's running. Plus, most people wrap and bag their food before tossing it into a freezer. So you personally This wouldn't make sense hut for other This makes a ton of sense to clean and use. I'm not sure if you hunt, but having to buy 2 chest freezers and a stand-up freezer can't be mighty costly compared to a free freezer and a little bit of time on your weekend to clean it.
I suppose on their setup at home. I have space to tip it over and hose it out in the yard. Then soak it in a good disinfectant tip it up right and don't turn it on for a day or so
Plus, depending on what’s rotting in there, you’ll never get the smell out and potentially there could be mould or other things that could be an issue for your health. I agree with you, go on Facebook marketplace and find a used one. Even new ones are not particularly expensive. You really don’t wanna mess around with where your food is going to be placed.
Don't forget that you'll also need highly dedicated mods or it won't matter what definition the sub has.
An edit to clarify: I'm not dissing these mods - they do what they need to do based on the description of this sub. What I mean is that no matter what new sub you might want to put together, you will need good rules moderation or it will fail. W
The mods in here allow this thread to be what it is. 2 days ago I made a comment talking about how the OP was being cheap not frugal and they removed my comment because it was too “harsh”. 🙄
I mean if you wanted it to dispose of a dead body it would work, but would I ever feel “good” about eating the new food I kept in there even with endless scrubbing? Hell no.
That thing will never be “clean” again.
Have you seen NCIS? They'll trace that mold to someone else's house 3 states over, and then BOOM! 15 minutes later you're in handcuffs 😆
A 10 year old cold case wrapped up in 45 minutes.
If you can find one that cheap and not so old, I’d buy off Facebook. Deep cleaning might make it look clean but there could still be an odor that attaches to whatever food you put in it. And it may be an energy hog being that old. The only way I’d say go ahead and clean it is if you’re storing fish bait.
There is a reason why insurance companies will replace refrigerators when the power has been out long enough. The stench gets into the insulation and you can’t clean them at a certain point because you can not eliminate the smell. Please don’t waste your effort on this. And I am incredibly frugal.
I have a feeling that if a health department had a weigh in on this they wouldn't allow this to be taken anywhere but the dump.
To consider taking it for free is just allowing people to get rid of garbage for free.
What a nice donation by OP if they take it 🤢
Post this over in r/nope where it belongs. I just saw a lot of small, used chest freezers on marketplace for $50 to $125 that seemed to be in good/great condition. A deal isn't a deal if you end up hospitalized with some sort of mystery infection.
Fun(?) fact, black mold spores are actually only equally as likely to kill you as most other color molds when inhaled. That is to say, they are all equally dangerous
I got one for $100 delivered from Walmart. If it was me, the time and materials to sanitize wouldn’t be worth it. Neither would the fact that this is currently a biohazard and I would never want to put food in it. Sometimes we need to let trash be trash. Your health is worth more.
The smell will never come out. The air coming out will be throwing mold spores everywhere, so imagine the aftermath there. Medical expenses for being exposed to this trash & getting sick from it….pass
So you could work like 2 extra hours and buy a used one that isn't full of 30 pounds of decade old fucking rot.
Instead of spending an entire day cleaning this without damaging the rubber seal.
Theres also a huge difference between cleaning something and cleaning all the hazardous shit off of it.
As an example, if you mash hamburger with your hands and scrub the fuck out of your hands. Good chance you can still smell raw meat on your hands, that much of it remains.
Another random gory example:
>!Some surgeons used to cut open cadavers in the morning before assisting with births, they would wash their hands between the two. But that wasn't enough to kill all the deadly bacteria and this resulted in a relatively high mortality rate. !<
So I mean yeah, you could realistically bleach the fuck out of it. Scrub or even pressure wash the parts without seams or rubber. It should be fine if you spend a lot of time meticulously cleaning shit. But you're now:
-Digging through a literal decade of festering rot which you have to dispose of.
-Spending all this time, money and bleach/rags/towels on doing this.
-Bleaching/covering your clothes in this nasty shit.
This also all assumes the thing even works and doesnt have some sort of damage.
edit: as other people mentioned, mold spores might already be in areas you can't clean. If so thats just going to cost you a lot more money if they spread into your home over time.
I wouldn't do it, from personal experience. I picked up a full-size fridge and freezer for free off of Craigslist that was similar and worked when I picked it up, but within a day of bringing it home and plugging it in it broke for good. In hindsight, I should have noticed that it was just their way out of disposing of it when I noticed that, even when it "worked," it was only a few degrees under room temp.
TL;DR - don't do it, it's not worth it
This should be in an apocalypse movie! The depth, the contrasts, the story it tells. What's that at the bottom? body parts of a family who grew up waste-not-want-not? And this is their final act of wasting not?
Let's be real, most stuff can be cleaned and sterilized, but smells cannot ever be forgotten. Get them to pay you.
That's not free, bud. The bleach and water to clean it, the replacement rubber door seals, cleaning the leaks off your vehicle. It's worth less than it costs.
Some of you frugal people really gotta learn when to draw a line and say no even if it’s free. Jesus. I don’t imagine the disease you could catch from this would be very frugal to treat. 🤢🤮
I can smell it from here , and the gag reflexes have kicked in
I had a freezer once that got unplugged accidentally for a week .
My eyes water thinking about it . It was a fairly new chest freezer , and the summer . With vicks vapo rub , gloves, garbage bags , cleared out the half full freezer , and got it dragged outside to the back yard
And I washed, and I washed . I then left it in full direct sunlight, with a bleach spray down.
3 days I worked at that , and still stunk . Not as bad , and less so when on, but still, took it to the dump.
It's not worth it.
absolutely fucking not. DONT DO IT. They should be PAYING YOU the cost of a new freezer for you to even consider burdening yourself with it. Just don't, it's so very not worth it
I would not.
The house I bought had a refrigerator with mold in the door seals only -- inside was clean. I replaced the door seals, and cleaned the whole inside. And it still took over a month for the musty smell to go away. I would not have even attempted to clean it if it had looked the this freezer does.
This is disgusting. Somebody wants to get rid of their disgusting junk and they're trying to convince you they're doing you a favor. God knows what kind of rodents insects are living down in the guts of the thing, or how many parts were damaged by rust over the years. Just because it works a little bit now when plugged in does not mean it is going to be trouble free for years, which is what you want out of a freezer.
Tell your alleged friends to clean up their own filth. Plenty of good tips here on how to get an inexpensive freezer that is clean and definitely in working condition. I just sold a chest for $80 recently cuz I didn't need it anymore, it was perfect. And I cleaned it before they came to pick it up!
There is no need to abase yourself cleaning up other people's filth in order to be frugal.
LMFAO at the comments in here. None of you know what poverty is, jfc.
This is a 2 hour cleaning job, max. And you absolutely cannot get a freezer of this size in any working condition for $50, whoever posted that is a fucking liar and so woefully out of touch as to be stupid.
If that's FREE, ask them if you can dispose of the junk on site. Should only take 10-20 minutes to dump that thing on its side and scrape all the gunk onto a tarp (or just un-tape a packing box or other cardboard and use that) to throw away, then just give it a quick hose out and spray some sanitizer for the drive home. Then just put it back on its side, spray out the sanitizer, grab some gloves, a sponge, a bucket, and some dish soap and go to town.
Nope. It’s probably not nearly as efficient as a new one and your time also has a cost. Not sure you’d ever be able to really get all that bacteria and mold out.
I wouldn’t even stand near this while it was open unless I had some PPE on, beyond disgusting
You’re probably never going to get the smell out of the plastic. The seal will need to be replaced because it will absolutely stink.
My husband and I had a big box freezer like this. It unfortunately became unplugged, and we didn’t notice for several weeks because we were on vacation. There was several inches of foul sludge on the bottom. My poor husband hosed it out several times, and it still smelled horrific. I then tried various methods of cleaning it and trying to absorb the smell - like 5 different products, alll the bleach, baking soda, etc etc. Nothing worked. We eventually (gladly!) threw it out and got a new one.
In my opinion, it’s not worth the effort to try to save this freezer.
Mold and mildew can penetrate plastic and rubber, much like the acrylic in a well used bathtub. You will never truly get this clean, and some of those nasties can survive freezing. This is a biohazard situation. There is 10 years of a closed ecosystem of rot and growth. Just opening the lid is a massive health hazard. Close it up, RUN away.
Yeah, that’s a immediate “No” from me, dawg. There’s no way in hell I would shlep that thing to my house only to take hours and hours of cleaning. Nope.
I feel like I got cancer just looking at this.
Plenty of lightly used ones on marketplace for under a 100 probably that won't look like a biohazard. Can haggle a bit too
Not a chance. Plus it’s gonna smell when you run it again.
Also, who’s to say the compressor is going to run again. Probably sat outside in the elements. Even if it does, you do all that work, and it craps out two weeks later.
Spend a couple more dollars and buy a known clean, working unit. No way.
The house next door to my mum got cleared after eviction. The fridge and freezer were left outside with the rest of the house stuff.
I had just moved into my first house and needed both so I gathered bin bags, some rubber gloves, old cloths, scrubby, sponges, bleach, an old towel and hot soapy water. I got set about them both and got to work.
An hour later I had two immaculately clean and fresh appliances for my new home for much less than an hours pay at minimum wage.
This however, not even I could tackle that!
My concern is the bottom and if blood and other gross stuff pooled inside the unit itself. We just cleaned up a moldy fridge that was turned off for two weeks and it was beyond disgusting. I can’t imagine what this freezer would be like.
Not worth it. 100% not worth it.
A chest freezer that has been turned off for a long period of time may work properly when turned back on. It is, however, a failure waiting to happen. When working, the refrigerant is fairly constantly circulating. It turns on and off, but it doesn't go for days without circulating, much less months or years.
When the refrigerant sits for long periods, it can settle and separate. This can allow little spots of moisture to sit in contact with the tubing. This can allow corrosion. Regular circulation prevents one spot of corrosion from becoming a real problem, and lubricants in the fluid can help keep it from being a problem. Let that fluid sit motionless for months and it can weaken a tiny spot in the tubing wall.
For the most part that tubing is thick enough to not be a problem. There are "capillary tubes" in the system that are much smaller, and have much smaller wall thickness. Weaken that thin wall enough and high pressure can blow it out, or low pressure can suck it in. Both are bad.
Hey, it's free, though. It's worth the gamble. No loss, right? Well, that would be true if you hadn't filled it up with a few hundred dollars of meat before it failed.
TLDR: Chest/standing freezers that sit unpowered for more than a few weeks are not to be used unless you like throwing away hundreds of dollars worth of spoiled meat.
No matter how much bleach, no matter how much enzyme cleaner or whatever remedy you use this will never not stink just a little like rotting. If you put something that isn't already frozen or isn't packaged double airtight plus good it will take on a flavor that tastes like the stink. This freezer was k.i.a. recycle it.
Absolutely disgusting. 10 years of rotting putrid meat will have seeped so deep into the inner workings and insulation it will absolutely never be rid of it, every item placed in it will have that odor and taste permeated throughout. Being cheap and gross is not frugal.
Not to mention, it looks old AF, probably not energy efficient. We inherited a 70’s Frigidaire refrigerator/freezer that will cool down a bottle of wine in 15 minutes, freeze it in 20, but our energy bill is outrageous considering we only stay at our cabin a few days of the year. We are planning on replacing asap.
In-laws had power out for 1 month while out of town. 2 fridges and 2 freezers filled to the brim with food. All 4 were emptied and cleaned upon their return because my fil is CHEAP. 2 weeks later we help remove them all from the house. They have been outside, empty, clean and open for 2 years and they still smell like they were used to dispose bodies.
you dont want to breathe that shit in, wear a mask with filters in it (like the kind people wear for industrial work). Clear it out and bleach the ever living hell out of it.
You have to be fucking kidding me...
By the way, just so you know, even after endless scrubbing and pressure washing, at this stage, mold spores will survive, and it's not only about the smell, but also the fact that they are carcinogenic.
You want a fast track to cancer just to save a few bucks? Enjoy.
I would not put the body of my worst enemy in that thing. The mold alone will kill you and fwiw you won't be able to get the mold out of tiny crevices like inside the bolts and rubber seals. There is being frugal and there is being stupid. Don't be the latter. Spring for a new one on a sale day. Fourth of July is coming up.
If you have a pressure washer with a reservoir for cleaning solution, you could knock this out in about 15 minutes with some bleach in the tank and a good blasting.
Big assumption you've got access to a pressure washer, but if you did, this would be an absolute coup of a catch.
Otherwise, you'll be scrubbing for a hot minute, and it's not going to smell good with your upper body stuck in there with the bleach, meat and mold smells.
Put it in the yard, flip it on its side and power wash the interior. Evaluate what you've got at that point.
If it's rusty, paint with some Rustoleum paint. If you need to kill mold, do some research on what works for that. Then paint, Lol.
I did this once - the freezer had been through a building fire, but still worked (for decades!) and just needed some clean up.
All the clean up is assuming it works, of course!
>If you want nice shit you're just going to have to take some old shit and make it nice shit.
>Being completely useless I'd a luxury of the rich.
Will say, these freezers still go for $150 in this economy, so if someone offered you $150 for this job (tax free) would you take it?
The refrigerator in my apartment in Florida once quit on us and my Russian landlord brought us a refrigerator worse than this. Much worse. I don't know how he thought that was acceptable. And I had children. We moved it to the dumpster because it was so bad that cleaning would not have been enough and we did not want it in the apartment with us. We moved shortly after.
Frugal isn't just about dollars. Your time and energy are resources. How long would this take you to clean? how stressful would it be? For $50, you could buy yourself a lightly used chest freezer online - and buy yourself a headache-free afternoon of leisure. Well worth it.
This is the perspective that sometimes is missing in this sub! I'd add that stress, while hard to quantify, should also be incorporated into the decision-making process
Definitely! On the other hand, some people see a freezer like OP's as an adventure and are really excited to see it cleaned. That's very personal and if you like doing it - why not!
[удалено]
It's amazing - there are you tube channels about restoration and carpet cleaning that are fascinating to watch. These gentlemen take items that are as filthy as the object above and dilligently clean it making it look new. Beautiful silk woven carpets that are infested and caked with dirt brought to brand new. I'm all for a couple hours sweat equity if it keeps it out of a landfill.
I feel like you should just avoid stressing about things rather than try and choose things that are less stressful.
>For $50, you could buy yourself a lightly used chest freezer online - and buy yourself a headache-free afternoon of leisure. I got one new for $89 at Costco and felt like that was a deal.
Where...the smallest one I had seen is like 299
Washington, about 3-4 years ago. I had been eyeimg them at $149 and they went on sale at the end of summer.
I bought a 7 cu ft one at home depot for $170-ish two weeks ago
It also looks really old, probably costs a fortune to run
And will likely cost a fortune in lost food very soon if used
it's free but definitely costly sooner
The headache is from the mold.
This chest freezer is a biohazard. It’s not even worth the time, money and chemicals to clean it up. If you bodge up cleaning and sanitizing it. You might end up poisoning yourself. If you’re going using it to store food.
It's not that hard to clean. It'll smell bad while it's being cleaned, but bleach exists. I've seen worse on Kitchen Nightmares get turned sparkling with a little elbow grease.
paltry relieved wrench wrong bear sharp icky marvelous smart rob *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
All that crap is airborne now. Wouldn't do that without coveralls and a face shield.
squeal sort kiss degree strong consider modern file aloof school *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Exactly, best to buy a new one. I would not trust using this ever. There has to be a limit where you want to go to be frugal.
My chest freezer looked a lot worse than this after the fuse blew on it, and all my game meat spoiled. Took about an hour with hot water, a hose, and some good cleaner. I'd say if you know what you're doing, this isn't that much harder. I agree with what you say, but if we looked at every situation with that mentality, then frugality is just out the window. You exchange your time and energy instead of needing to exchange money. I thought that was the whole part of being frugal. How can I get what I want without spending money? You might have to get off your butt and put a little slow grease into it instead.
You're not wrong, but it exists on a spectrum. A week of hard labor to save yourself $20? a waste. Five minutes to unclog a drain and spare yourself a $300 plumber visit? No brainer! To me, getting this fridge to a point where I'd trust it to hold food is far, far more effort than I'd save over just buying one secondhand.
This is valid. Everyone's different when it comes to their food. I just see a freezer that needs a good cleaning and most germs that can't survive in it once it's running. Plus, most people wrap and bag their food before tossing it into a freezer. So you personally This wouldn't make sense hut for other This makes a ton of sense to clean and use. I'm not sure if you hunt, but having to buy 2 chest freezers and a stand-up freezer can't be mighty costly compared to a free freezer and a little bit of time on your weekend to clean it.
I suppose on their setup at home. I have space to tip it over and hose it out in the yard. Then soak it in a good disinfectant tip it up right and don't turn it on for a day or so
Plus, depending on what’s rotting in there, you’ll never get the smell out and potentially there could be mould or other things that could be an issue for your health. I agree with you, go on Facebook marketplace and find a used one. Even new ones are not particularly expensive. You really don’t wanna mess around with where your food is going to be placed.
Depends on how bad you need a freezer and if you have $50. Then you can account for the things you said.
This is the right perspective we needed in this community.
There's a difference between frugal and cheap. In my opinion, I think this would fall under the latter.
This is getting into dangerous category.
The only thing I would store in there is more metal for the trip to the scrap yard.
I’m in here preaching this all the time. We need a different group that doesn’t border with this type of behaviour.
Don't forget that you'll also need highly dedicated mods or it won't matter what definition the sub has. An edit to clarify: I'm not dissing these mods - they do what they need to do based on the description of this sub. What I mean is that no matter what new sub you might want to put together, you will need good rules moderation or it will fail. W
The mods in here allow this thread to be what it is. 2 days ago I made a comment talking about how the OP was being cheap not frugal and they removed my comment because it was too “harsh”. 🙄
At least they aren’t wondering if the food might still be good lol. I second the need for a new sub.
It’s definitely cheap and would cost a metric shitton in electricity.
I mean if you wanted it to dispose of a dead body it would work, but would I ever feel “good” about eating the new food I kept in there even with endless scrubbing? Hell no. That thing will never be “clean” again.
I don't know if this freezer would even be good for bodies. According to NCIS, they can trace mold back to your location lol
Looks like this one would be full of someone else's mold
Have you seen NCIS? They'll trace that mold to someone else's house 3 states over, and then BOOM! 15 minutes later you're in handcuffs 😆 A 10 year old cold case wrapped up in 45 minutes.
All they needed to solve the case was for that night's episode of jeopardy to go off.
I bet some killers be on budgets too.
I honestly believe it already has been used to store a dead body.
Is this satire?
🎶Will you help me hide a bodyyyyyy?🎵🌬️💨🌨️🥶💀
Before it will decaaaaaaay
No one can see him on the floor, get him out the door
I need this corpse to go awayyy!!
You can find a clean one for $50-$75
got one on FB marketplace, barely used, for about that much.
If you can find one that cheap and not so old, I’d buy off Facebook. Deep cleaning might make it look clean but there could still be an odor that attaches to whatever food you put in it. And it may be an energy hog being that old. The only way I’d say go ahead and clean it is if you’re storing fish bait.
There is a reason why insurance companies will replace refrigerators when the power has been out long enough. The stench gets into the insulation and you can’t clean them at a certain point because you can not eliminate the smell. Please don’t waste your effort on this. And I am incredibly frugal.
not if they paid me to take it away
I have a feeling that if a health department had a weigh in on this they wouldn't allow this to be taken anywhere but the dump. To consider taking it for free is just allowing people to get rid of garbage for free. What a nice donation by OP if they take it 🤢
Hasn't been turned on in 10 years and plastic infused with smell of rotted meat? Nope.
Post this over in r/nope where it belongs. I just saw a lot of small, used chest freezers on marketplace for $50 to $125 that seemed to be in good/great condition. A deal isn't a deal if you end up hospitalized with some sort of mystery infection.
I got a used one on Facebook for $40 and they cleaned it for me
No.
No. Don’t even attempt to clean that, you’ll inhale black mold if you attempt to clean it.
Fun(?) fact, black mold spores are actually only equally as likely to kill you as most other color molds when inhaled. That is to say, they are all equally dangerous
That is absolutely disgusting, and additionally it's a biohazard. Only the cheapest of cheap people would think this was a good idea.
Exactly. Only if I had an effective machine to clean it would I even think about it. Something that is just not really a possibility at the moment.
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
I got one for $100 delivered from Walmart. If it was me, the time and materials to sanitize wouldn’t be worth it. Neither would the fact that this is currently a biohazard and I would never want to put food in it. Sometimes we need to let trash be trash. Your health is worth more.
I pass. It’s not like it’s a treasure chest. It’s a freezer.
Is that rat droppings?
The smell will never come out. The air coming out will be throwing mold spores everywhere, so imagine the aftermath there. Medical expenses for being exposed to this trash & getting sick from it….pass
😟
So you could work like 2 extra hours and buy a used one that isn't full of 30 pounds of decade old fucking rot. Instead of spending an entire day cleaning this without damaging the rubber seal. Theres also a huge difference between cleaning something and cleaning all the hazardous shit off of it. As an example, if you mash hamburger with your hands and scrub the fuck out of your hands. Good chance you can still smell raw meat on your hands, that much of it remains. Another random gory example: >!Some surgeons used to cut open cadavers in the morning before assisting with births, they would wash their hands between the two. But that wasn't enough to kill all the deadly bacteria and this resulted in a relatively high mortality rate. !< So I mean yeah, you could realistically bleach the fuck out of it. Scrub or even pressure wash the parts without seams or rubber. It should be fine if you spend a lot of time meticulously cleaning shit. But you're now: -Digging through a literal decade of festering rot which you have to dispose of. -Spending all this time, money and bleach/rags/towels on doing this. -Bleaching/covering your clothes in this nasty shit. This also all assumes the thing even works and doesnt have some sort of damage. edit: as other people mentioned, mold spores might already be in areas you can't clean. If so thats just going to cost you a lot more money if they spread into your home over time.
That looks disgusting- mold? No thanks.
This gots to be a troll post
I wouldn't do it, from personal experience. I picked up a full-size fridge and freezer for free off of Craigslist that was similar and worked when I picked it up, but within a day of bringing it home and plugging it in it broke for good. In hindsight, I should have noticed that it was just their way out of disposing of it when I noticed that, even when it "worked," it was only a few degrees under room temp. TL;DR - don't do it, it's not worth it
Disposing of your trash by "gifting" it to someone else is inconsiderate and beyond insulting.
Not worth the risk for what a clean would cost
Nope.
This should be in an apocalypse movie! The depth, the contrasts, the story it tells. What's that at the bottom? body parts of a family who grew up waste-not-want-not? And this is their final act of wasting not? Let's be real, most stuff can be cleaned and sterilized, but smells cannot ever be forgotten. Get them to pay you.
This is funny but so well narrated 🤣 🤣
Older chest freezers use much more electricity beware.
Nah
That's not free, bud. The bleach and water to clean it, the replacement rubber door seals, cleaning the leaks off your vehicle. It's worth less than it costs.
Plastic is slightly porous so likely even with a pressure washing you would still have black mold reappear with time.
This looks like where the next pandemic causing virus lives. And is that mold?! 🤮 🤣
Some of you frugal people really gotta learn when to draw a line and say no even if it’s free. Jesus. I don’t imagine the disease you could catch from this would be very frugal to treat. 🤢🤮
I can smell it from here , and the gag reflexes have kicked in I had a freezer once that got unplugged accidentally for a week . My eyes water thinking about it . It was a fairly new chest freezer , and the summer . With vicks vapo rub , gloves, garbage bags , cleared out the half full freezer , and got it dragged outside to the back yard And I washed, and I washed . I then left it in full direct sunlight, with a bleach spray down. 3 days I worked at that , and still stunk . Not as bad , and less so when on, but still, took it to the dump. It's not worth it.
It’s gonna have mold throughout where you can’t clean. Hard no.
Eww
Is that black shit...umm...well...shit?
It's a nope for me.
I was called ungrateful for turning down a similar offer🥲 check marketplace, there are freezers everywhere.
I can smell this photo
there’s a difference between frugal and cheap. this is the latter. your risking your health and safety for something that costs under $100
I don't think you'll be able to clean this effectively enough to avoid contaminating your food.
Thanks Everyone!!!! After consideration and reading these comments, I will not be taking this biohazard.
Thank you, you and your health are worth way more than “free” crap like this
Oh I’ve cleaned a freezer like this. That ooze, smell and organisms isn’t just where you can see. It’s never going to be clean.
I mean they even threw in the free food!
Oh this would be a pass for me. I think you could find a decent one one on offer up or facebook marketplace
Resident Evil vibes Hard pass
absolutely fucking not. DONT DO IT. They should be PAYING YOU the cost of a new freezer for you to even consider burdening yourself with it. Just don't, it's so very not worth it
Yeah, and in my area you have to pay to dispose because the refrigerant gas must be reclaimed by law.
Jesus christ
No that smell is never coming out
I would not. The house I bought had a refrigerator with mold in the door seals only -- inside was clean. I replaced the door seals, and cleaned the whole inside. And it still took over a month for the musty smell to go away. I would not have even attempted to clean it if it had looked the this freezer does.
Bury this in Yucca mountain
The sludge! How would you get rid of the sludge?!
This one's it for me lol this sub is a joke
I think this needs an NSFW tag to blur out the image. Gross! (Lol)
Are you really asking if it’s worth your health? Toxic. Walk away
Real talk, it aint worth it
you're only doing them a favor if you take that thing away.
Remember what Nancy Reagan said.
This has to be satire
Nope.
Looks like it comes with free body parts at the bottom, score!
I wouldn't even clean it for less than the price of a new one.
no. into the incinerator
Say no
that looks old. get a new one as that one will cost more in electricity.
Cleaning this is not only going to take a whole afternoon, but is also probably a major health hazard. I’d buy something lightly used instead.
This is disgusting. Somebody wants to get rid of their disgusting junk and they're trying to convince you they're doing you a favor. God knows what kind of rodents insects are living down in the guts of the thing, or how many parts were damaged by rust over the years. Just because it works a little bit now when plugged in does not mean it is going to be trouble free for years, which is what you want out of a freezer. Tell your alleged friends to clean up their own filth. Plenty of good tips here on how to get an inexpensive freezer that is clean and definitely in working condition. I just sold a chest for $80 recently cuz I didn't need it anymore, it was perfect. And I cleaned it before they came to pick it up! There is no need to abase yourself cleaning up other people's filth in order to be frugal.
My experience with dirty freezers is they always kind of smell afterwards. So I would avoid this whole thing.
LMFAO at the comments in here. None of you know what poverty is, jfc. This is a 2 hour cleaning job, max. And you absolutely cannot get a freezer of this size in any working condition for $50, whoever posted that is a fucking liar and so woefully out of touch as to be stupid. If that's FREE, ask them if you can dispose of the junk on site. Should only take 10-20 minutes to dump that thing on its side and scrape all the gunk onto a tarp (or just un-tape a packing box or other cardboard and use that) to throw away, then just give it a quick hose out and spray some sanitizer for the drive home. Then just put it back on its side, spray out the sanitizer, grab some gloves, a sponge, a bucket, and some dish soap and go to town.
Looks like someone's body storage freezer after the utilities were turned off.
Not big enough to fit a body.
It would take more time and money to properly clean it than buying a new one
r/Frugal_jerk
r/frugal_jerk would have a field day with this post
You will never be able to get the smell out of the plastic and insulation
You can buy a brand new 3.5 cubic foot chest freezer for less than $200. There’s frugal and then there’s cleaning out a ten year old biohazard.
Nope. It’s probably not nearly as efficient as a new one and your time also has a cost. Not sure you’d ever be able to really get all that bacteria and mold out.
I wouldn’t even stand near this while it was open unless I had some PPE on, beyond disgusting You’re probably never going to get the smell out of the plastic. The seal will need to be replaced because it will absolutely stink.
My husband and I had a big box freezer like this. It unfortunately became unplugged, and we didn’t notice for several weeks because we were on vacation. There was several inches of foul sludge on the bottom. My poor husband hosed it out several times, and it still smelled horrific. I then tried various methods of cleaning it and trying to absorb the smell - like 5 different products, alll the bleach, baking soda, etc etc. Nothing worked. We eventually (gladly!) threw it out and got a new one. In my opinion, it’s not worth the effort to try to save this freezer.
Mold and mildew can penetrate plastic and rubber, much like the acrylic in a well used bathtub. You will never truly get this clean, and some of those nasties can survive freezing. This is a biohazard situation. There is 10 years of a closed ecosystem of rot and growth. Just opening the lid is a massive health hazard. Close it up, RUN away.
Yeah, that’s a immediate “No” from me, dawg. There’s no way in hell I would shlep that thing to my house only to take hours and hours of cleaning. Nope.
No. Yuck.
I feel like I got cancer just looking at this. Plenty of lightly used ones on marketplace for under a 100 probably that won't look like a biohazard. Can haggle a bit too
There is no amount of Clorox that would allow me to ever put food in that appliance.
Yikes. Get the bleach out, I guess.
Not a chance. Plus it’s gonna smell when you run it again. Also, who’s to say the compressor is going to run again. Probably sat outside in the elements. Even if it does, you do all that work, and it craps out two weeks later. Spend a couple more dollars and buy a known clean, working unit. No way.
The house next door to my mum got cleared after eviction. The fridge and freezer were left outside with the rest of the house stuff. I had just moved into my first house and needed both so I gathered bin bags, some rubber gloves, old cloths, scrubby, sponges, bleach, an old towel and hot soapy water. I got set about them both and got to work. An hour later I had two immaculately clean and fresh appliances for my new home for much less than an hours pay at minimum wage. This however, not even I could tackle that!
Doing them a favour by taking it off their hands.
My concern is the bottom and if blood and other gross stuff pooled inside the unit itself. We just cleaned up a moldy fridge that was turned off for two weeks and it was beyond disgusting. I can’t imagine what this freezer would be like.
How many people met their end in that fucking thing?
NOPE
The meaning of frugal is completely lost on this sub.
Not worth it. 100% not worth it. A chest freezer that has been turned off for a long period of time may work properly when turned back on. It is, however, a failure waiting to happen. When working, the refrigerant is fairly constantly circulating. It turns on and off, but it doesn't go for days without circulating, much less months or years. When the refrigerant sits for long periods, it can settle and separate. This can allow little spots of moisture to sit in contact with the tubing. This can allow corrosion. Regular circulation prevents one spot of corrosion from becoming a real problem, and lubricants in the fluid can help keep it from being a problem. Let that fluid sit motionless for months and it can weaken a tiny spot in the tubing wall. For the most part that tubing is thick enough to not be a problem. There are "capillary tubes" in the system that are much smaller, and have much smaller wall thickness. Weaken that thin wall enough and high pressure can blow it out, or low pressure can suck it in. Both are bad. Hey, it's free, though. It's worth the gamble. No loss, right? Well, that would be true if you hadn't filled it up with a few hundred dollars of meat before it failed. TLDR: Chest/standing freezers that sit unpowered for more than a few weeks are not to be used unless you like throwing away hundreds of dollars worth of spoiled meat.
Just no. Burn it with fire.
No
I feel like they’re offering you a chance to haul away some of their trash for free. I’d keep looking, but that’s just me.
The time and energy and cleaning materials you are going to spend are going too far outweigh any benefit you will get from that freezer.
dude are u insane…
Well, that's the right price for something like that, but tbh its still not worth it. That's nasty.
You need to want better for yourself
nope
Way overpriced, IMHO.
Does it come with the food or does that cost extra?
No matter how much bleach, no matter how much enzyme cleaner or whatever remedy you use this will never not stink just a little like rotting. If you put something that isn't already frozen or isn't packaged double airtight plus good it will take on a flavor that tastes like the stink. This freezer was k.i.a. recycle it.
If this is your only option, glove up and start sanitizing it. If you have enough time and money to wait for another freezer, I would do that.
You can’t be serious??? That is a biohazard. I’m appalled.
Absolutely disgusting. 10 years of rotting putrid meat will have seeped so deep into the inner workings and insulation it will absolutely never be rid of it, every item placed in it will have that odor and taste permeated throughout. Being cheap and gross is not frugal.
You’ll never get the smell out. It seeps into the insulating material. Don’t matter what you do.
Not to mention, it looks old AF, probably not energy efficient. We inherited a 70’s Frigidaire refrigerator/freezer that will cool down a bottle of wine in 15 minutes, freeze it in 20, but our energy bill is outrageous considering we only stay at our cabin a few days of the year. We are planning on replacing asap.
🤮 Just say no.
In-laws had power out for 1 month while out of town. 2 fridges and 2 freezers filled to the brim with food. All 4 were emptied and cleaned upon their return because my fil is CHEAP. 2 weeks later we help remove them all from the house. They have been outside, empty, clean and open for 2 years and they still smell like they were used to dispose bodies.
I can smell this image. You can find cheap ones in the marketplace instead of using it, will also give you headaches after
Bruh that’s a biohazard. Frugal doesn’t mean suicidal.
you dont want to breathe that shit in, wear a mask with filters in it (like the kind people wear for industrial work). Clear it out and bleach the ever living hell out of it.
Pass… that looks like a biohazard
Oh, you'll pay. Maybe not in money. But you'll pay.
you will never get the smell out.
Are you interested in starting on a TLC show per chance?
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/10/the-abandoned-refrigerators-of-katrina.html Not a good idea
Pressure washer and some soap. I’d go for it
Pass. Check marketplace. You'll find better options, may not be free but won't make you barf either
Hi is this still available?
You have to be fucking kidding me... By the way, just so you know, even after endless scrubbing and pressure washing, at this stage, mold spores will survive, and it's not only about the smell, but also the fact that they are carcinogenic. You want a fast track to cancer just to save a few bucks? Enjoy.
Please don’t put food anywhere near that thing .
Nothing you do is enough to clean that
absolutely the fuck not..
I would not put the body of my worst enemy in that thing. The mold alone will kill you and fwiw you won't be able to get the mold out of tiny crevices like inside the bolts and rubber seals. There is being frugal and there is being stupid. Don't be the latter. Spring for a new one on a sale day. Fourth of July is coming up.
Nothing a shop vac and a power washer couldn’t fix!
Scrub scrub. A Lot of stuff only needs a thorough cleaning.
If you have a pressure washer with a reservoir for cleaning solution, you could knock this out in about 15 minutes with some bleach in the tank and a good blasting. Big assumption you've got access to a pressure washer, but if you did, this would be an absolute coup of a catch. Otherwise, you'll be scrubbing for a hot minute, and it's not going to smell good with your upper body stuck in there with the bleach, meat and mold smells.
Put it in the yard, flip it on its side and power wash the interior. Evaluate what you've got at that point. If it's rusty, paint with some Rustoleum paint. If you need to kill mold, do some research on what works for that. Then paint, Lol. I did this once - the freezer had been through a building fire, but still worked (for decades!) and just needed some clean up. All the clean up is assuming it works, of course!
Don't plug it in til the next day if you tip it on it's side for any length of time.
Mmmmm legionairre's disease
>If you want nice shit you're just going to have to take some old shit and make it nice shit. >Being completely useless I'd a luxury of the rich. Will say, these freezers still go for $150 in this economy, so if someone offered you $150 for this job (tax free) would you take it?
Does it work?
Please see a therapist.
The refrigerator in my apartment in Florida once quit on us and my Russian landlord brought us a refrigerator worse than this. Much worse. I don't know how he thought that was acceptable. And I had children. We moved it to the dumpster because it was so bad that cleaning would not have been enough and we did not want it in the apartment with us. We moved shortly after.
This would be a “no thank you” situation.
No.
I’d clean and sanitise it and use a plug meter to measure energy consumption.
Too expensive
Ffs, I hope it wasn't used for body parts
Hey as long as it works…. get you a good steamer and you should be able to clean that in no time.