When I make my lowcarb salads I stand with the fridge door open while I take out and use my cheese and olives. Am I being awful?

Yes. Sorry. The fridge uses more energy than any other household appliance except air conditioning units and water heaters. (vaccuum cleaners don't count as they are not in use 24/7).

So every second the fridge door is open, picture dollars falling out and onto the floor.

Hmmm but I have a thermometer on the fridge and the temperature doesn't really drop when I leave the door open for the 30 seconds. And, really, if a door is sitting open, is that worse than the door opening and closing and opening and closing, which creates an air flow vacuum and pulls the cold air out repeatedly? I would think a stationary situation would be better than a moving-door multiple-times situation.

Sounds like a Mythbusters problem.

Our fridge is chock-full so I think it maintains its temperature very nicely - it's not like the lettuce and so on is warming. It's just a bit of air which warms, which probably instant-cools because of the whole fridge full of the right-temperature items.

I could do it my way for a month, and then do it your way for a month and see if the fridge even notices at all. Bob says it's a normal style plug, and I have one of those devices that track energy uses. Bob is saying it's only an energy draw because it's on all the time, meaning an extra 30 seconds really won't impact compared to the 24x7x30 time it's running anyway.

So definitely something I can test. I'll work on that.

I just got a Genius Air Plus for the fridge that has some sort of ionizer technology to keep foods fresh. I love that it has a sensor that tells me the fridge door has been left open...or that my husband or child is standing in front of the fridge door too long.