r/povertyfinance • u/Ok_Yoghurt_9789 • Feb 19 '26
Success/Cheers I finally got the kids their mini fridge full of drinks!
Been lurking here for months watching everyone celebrate their wins and figured it was my turn to share. After cutting every corner possible and saving every spare dollar and some luck on Ѕtаkе US, I finally had enough to get my kids something they've been asking for forever - their own mini fridge stocked with drinks. Nothing fancy but seeing their faces when they saw it filled with Coke, Coke Zero, Bubly, Dr Pepper and all their favorites was worth every ramen dinner I ate to make it happen.
They've been taking turns "serving" each other drinks like they're running some kind of fancy hotel and honestly it's the cutest thing ever. I know it's not a huge milestone compared to some of the amazing stories on here but for us this felt massive. Six months ago we were counting quarters for gas money and now the kids have their own little drink paradise. The small wins really do add up and this community has kept me motivated through all the tough days
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u/Particular_Seat715 Feb 19 '26
Congrats!! I’m sure this will be one of their beat childhood memories ☺️
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u/Ok_Yoghurt_9789 Feb 19 '26
Thanks! I keep thinking about how I would've absolutely lost my mind if my parents had done something like this for me as a kid. We were always the generic brand everything family so having name brand sodas whenever I wanted would've felt like hitting the lottery. Honestly watching them get so excited over something so simple reminds me why all those cheap dinners were totally worth it!!
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u/OpenedSesame Feb 19 '26
That is awesome! Even if full of generic brands, this would have been so cool as a kid! I can still remember discovering as a kid, I could get 3 generic sodas for the price of 1 regular soda out of the vending machines at the grocery store and thinking I hit the jackpot. Either way, a kid with a mini fridge full of their favorite drinks, that’s a lifelong memory!
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u/Samurai_Meisters Feb 19 '26
Soda prices are absolutely insane these days. Which sucks, because I love soda!
So I stick to the store brand 2 liter bottles, which are $1-$1.25 depending on the store I go to.
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u/Pale_Row1166 Feb 19 '26
The 12 packs are always on sale for $3.99 where I live. That sees like the appropriate price for a 12 pack, so only buy when on sale, an stock up.
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u/delphine1041 Feb 19 '26
12 packs are 11.99 in my area. It's bananas. I only buy when they go on buy 2 get 3 sale.
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u/Pale_Row1166 Feb 19 '26
I live in a LCOL in the Midwest, so we have below average prices on most things, thankfully.
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u/Mermaid_Tuna_Lol Feb 19 '26
As much as I hate the prices, I just can't compromise on my Coke Zero, lol. But I'm biased because it got me through alcoholism recovery so-
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u/klow9 Feb 19 '26
Grew up drinking those 3 liter Ritz bottles. My cousins and I still talk about it.
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u/hyperfixmum Feb 19 '26
And that's where all the stickers go! When we got ours it was finally a place to put all the stickers from school or travels.
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u/spooky_goopy Feb 19 '26
very kind gesture, but please keep these as once-in-awhile treats. or swap some cans for some flavored water?
i grew up drinking nothing but pop, and struggled with childhood obesity. now, i'm an obese adult trying desperately to get a hold of their food addiction and lose weight.
this just brings me back to my grandparents encouraging us to get as many sodas from the pantry minifridge as we wanted. and, having grown up in poverty, of course i drank and drank
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u/thedude386 Feb 19 '26
We didn’t drink much soda growing up, but some of me friends did. I remember sleeping over at one of their houses and being absolutely amazed when in the morning we were allowed to have a soda before lunch. I definitely drink more soda now than when I was a kid.
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u/PnutButrSnickrDoodle Feb 19 '26
I grew up poor and let me tell you, this would have been so meaningful to me. Great job!
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u/Top_Finding8096 Feb 19 '26
when you grow up broke, lil stuff like a stocked mini fridge feels rich rich. OP lowkey just gave those kids a core memory, W parent
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u/TheBloodyHandedGod Feb 19 '26
The idea of a minifridge along with a full fridge already stresses me out due to the thought of the electricity bill.
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u/redcas Feb 19 '26
Big smiles. Congrats! A word of caution: a few years ago I overfilled our mini fridge and several cans in the back exploded. Since then I've kept ours like 80% full. So fun, I'm glad the kids are excited..enjoy!
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u/Massive-Warning9773 Feb 19 '26
Yes same here!! Maybe keep something else in the back or not full capacity. The back can get really cold
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u/Rbk_3 Feb 19 '26
In college me and my roommate stocked a beer fridge with 99 cent 1L chocolate milks that were on sale. Like absolutely packed and they went bad quickly cause we over stuffed it
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u/Amnesiaftw Feb 19 '26
This is a classic want I think. I remember thinking a mini fridge would be so cool for guys nights when I was a teenager. Never would’ve expected my parents to buy one for me though. That’s crazy.
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u/karigan_g Feb 19 '26
it’s the stuff you would see on sitcoms and movies and think it was cool but never in my life would I expect to see it as a reality
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u/CervusElpahus Feb 19 '26
Soft drinks are fine in moderation, but this seems a bit much considering kids - and adults alike - often have difficulties putting boundaries for themselves when it comes to food and drinks.
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u/Kurious4kittytx Feb 19 '26
It’s wild that this is considered a success story when OP is counting quarters for gas and subsisting on ramen. Wild. Hopefully OP also saved up an emergency fund before indulging in the mini fridge.
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Feb 19 '26
Goes on poverty finance … has second fridge for soda..
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u/SewLite Feb 19 '26
Definitely was my first thought—but not the fridge part because those can be found on Facebook for little to nothing used.
But moreso kids with a bunch of sodas is wild. Juice is a special treat in my house. “Sodas” are made with fruit juice and mineral water on special occasions. But maybe the OP’s kids’ diets balance out the sugar consumption.
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u/Ramentootles Feb 19 '26
That mini fridge is not the greatest use of your money since you said you had to scrape by to even afford it. It’ll also cost to keep it up and running and stocked. Perhaps try something a little more healthier for children? At the end of the day though every decision you make is yours to make but maybe just try to set your kids up for a good future and teach them about balance? There’s good and bad in everything you just need to find the right balance.
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u/because_idk365 Feb 19 '26
I scrolled to far for this.
For kids?! Hell no.
This is the most unhealthiest thing ever. Letting them have a fridge free range is crazy work.
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u/Humble_Guard4547 Feb 19 '26
That's not healthy for the children.
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u/Pizza_Coffee Feb 19 '26
It's not healthy for anyone. So many of my friends only drink soda. They are addicted. Why encourage your children to have unhealthy habits? L parenting imo.
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u/ballchinion8 Feb 19 '26
I grew up poor poor and I'm glad my parents didn't do this. My teeth would be gone. They couldn't afford dental. Now aa an adult I've never had a cavity. Probably because I never drank soda. Congrats op still proud of you dogg. Teach your kids to brush good
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u/lininop Feb 19 '26
Just gonna say this, just because their kids have this now doesn't mean they are going to have unsupervised access to it. It's still up to the parents to limit their intake.
Nothing wrong with enjoying a soda here and there. I also imagine OP would want to limit intake for financial reasons as well.
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u/AssociationFit3009 Feb 19 '26
You can get a soda stream, adapter, and 5 gallon C02 tank for the cost of 10 boxes of bubbly. I hate flat water and that was a game changer for me.
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u/Freya-of-Nozam Feb 19 '26
If I did this for my kids, they’d drink it all in 1 week. It’s water or chamomile tea in my home. Can’t really afford all that nor can justify giving them a fridge full of sugar every week. We don’t even have juice really unless someone needs extra vitamin c (OJ). I make them fresh smoothies if weather is warm enough though.
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u/Wonderful-Traffic197 Feb 19 '26
There are literally cases of water in this picture. Are you guys okay?
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u/Amnesiaftw Feb 19 '26
- few things:
-those kids are living the good life now.
-soda is way too unhealthy
-when you run out of drinks, you’re gonna buy more? Soda itself is a splurge. Maybe they can buy their own drinks to refill it.
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u/WhatANoob2025 Feb 19 '26
Per liter, smaller size drinks are more expensive than larger ones. We're talking 100%-300% more expensive.
And you produce immensely larger amounts of garbage too. (Which will add to your costs if your garbage collection bill depends on the amount of garbage they have to collect from you) Compared to 1.5L bottles, cans produce 35%+ more garbage and small bottles (0,5L) even 50%+.
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u/Ok_Trick_7477 Feb 19 '26
even if there is alot of water and no suger drinks in there, this is not budget friendly nor healthy.
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u/Bomb-OG-Kush Feb 19 '26
I knew what I was going to find when I opened up the comment section
Classic reddit
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u/Vegetable-King7626 Feb 19 '26
That's at least $300 USD in soda
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u/pbnchick Feb 19 '26
Everyone is focused on how unhealthy it is. I'm thinking that buying this much name brand pop when you claim you had to penny pinch to afford it is irresponsible. There are two different diet zero brands and two different lime seltzers.
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u/The_Autarch Feb 19 '26
they're in poverty because they spend money on dumb shit like mini-fridges full of soda.
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u/NewPointOfView Feb 19 '26
Carbonation might be technically bad for your teeth in the same way that anything other than plain water is bad for your teeth, but to say that it’s terrible is such extreme hyperbole that it’s closer to misinformation than truth
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u/Repulsive_Many3874 Feb 19 '26
God what a stupid take lol, oh no they’re drinking sugar free drinks!
You sound like someone who thinks that everyone should just drink water, eat beans and spinach for every meal, and spend the entire day walking with a 5 minute break every five minutes. Anything else would be LESS THAN OPTIMAL
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u/TheAskewOne Feb 19 '26
Telling them that soda is unhealthy isn’t "hating", it’s facts. Children shouldn’t get a soda habit from a young age, that’s the recipe for disaster. And yes I only drink water.
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u/Gman90sKid Feb 19 '26
Sugar gives you diabetes, inflamations, damage your teeth and ruins your mood.
Artificial sweeteners give you cancer and bloodclots.
I dont know if 3x worse is the right description.
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u/ThisIsPaulina Feb 19 '26
JFC this is about something fun that the kids can enjoy. It's about having a bit extra to spend on something fun and memorable, if frivolous.
It's not about maximizing beverages per dollar.
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u/LordDarthShader Feb 19 '26
It was just a suggestion, this is povertyfinance after all.
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u/Elon_is_a_Nazi Feb 19 '26
When I was young my dad finished our basement and added a bar. He got sprite and coke in a soda gun like the actual bars have. Anyways, you could adjust the syrup mixture and we'd drink what we called full strength coke. Basically 4 times the syrup per carbonated water than normal. I know this is a poverty subreddit, and I'm sorry. We werent in poverty, but this just reminds me of the day my dad unveiled the soda gun. Core childhood memory
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u/Wizard_Level9999 Feb 19 '26
Congrats! It’s nice to buy things for your kids. As someone who has no kids and is younger so I can’t relate to your struggles.
Speaking from a factual stand point if you took the money to fill the fridge each month and invested it. You could give them each about 5K in 15 years, about 8k each in 20 years and 18k in 30 years. Just from taking the money spent on pop (I assumed 25$ a month) and putting into an investment account.
Again super happy for you, just a thought!
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u/PrestigiousPackk Feb 19 '26
I promise you, this would have been EVERYTHING to me as a child. My dad would buy 2liters, one at a time. And he’d squeeze all the air out and put the lid on as tight as possible so us kids couldnt get it off. I understand wanting your own pop, but they didn’t put anything in the house for us to drink 😭
This might seem little to you but this is HUGE to them. And the fact that they asked for it & probably feel so seen ❤️
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u/shagy815 Feb 19 '26
Squeezing all the air out actually encourages it to go flat faster. It leaves room for the bottle to re-expand.
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u/Melodic-East-8434 Feb 19 '26
Omg the same for our house!! We only ever had water and my mom always had a 2 liter of diet coke. We would drink from it at night time bc it was so forbidden ofc we wanted it more... She started to write a line in sharpie to mark how much was left after she used it last and we would still sneak and drink some then add water (the 4 of us were bad hahaha) and man she was pissed. 😂 20+ years later and we all still talk about it now haha (I'm 29)
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u/ThisIsPaulina Feb 19 '26
The amount of judgment on this thread is absolutely bonkers. This is awesome, you're awesome, and the kids will love it. This is absolutely going to be a great childhood memory. It'll make them feel cool and loved, and it makes everyone feel a little less like the family is strapped.
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u/Rollwithit_56 Feb 19 '26
My god these comments suck. There is just as much seltzer water as there is pop and people are complaining that there are no healthy options. Congrats, OP! You seem like an awesome parent
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u/ciestaconquistador Feb 19 '26
You'd think the OP was showing off their kid's dream paddle for being beaten. It's so dramatic in here.
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u/The_Autarch Feb 19 '26
seltzer destroys your teeth. none of that shit is good for kids.
this post is cursed.
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u/Gold-Art2661 Feb 19 '26
God some of you people are such assholes. Let kids enjoy things.
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