When most people think of Spring Cleaning, they think of the very obviously seasonally related cleaning & organizational topics: putting away the Winter wears, cleaning for a new season and bringing out the Spring and Summer stuff for warmer weather.

But there’s one area of the home that most people frequently neglect almost year round when it comes to organization & cleanliness: the refrigerator. Sure, we stand in front of it every day but we take it for granted when it comes to organization. You only notice how unorganized or unclean it is until you have a hard time storing or putting new items into it.

The beauty of organizing your fridge is that it’s frequently easier than organizing clothes or drawers. Unlike certain items which have no expiration date (with the exception of of those bell bottoms or your 15 year old George Foreman Grill!), food does expire, so there’s a clear jump-off point for items that can stay or go. Also, if you’ve purchased an edible & don’t like the taste, you know you’ll never use it, so there’s another clear delineation of what items can stay or go.

So to start: grab a recycling bin, a cooler or icebox, a garbage can and a couple of garbage bags, cleaning spray, a sponge and a couple of clean cloths.

  • Start by looking for the items that you know you don’t like, are almost empty and/or are out of date & set those items to one side of your counter by the sink. Now you can see what items are keepers-pull those & place them into your cooler or coolers.
  • Now that you’ve got an empty fridge, remove any shelves and drawers and start the process of cleaning them off. Wipe any large detritus into the garbage bin, and then grab your spray, sponge and/or cloth and spray & wipe/scrub it clean and set them to the side until you have all drawers and shelves cleaned.
  • Once that’s done, you can move onto the interior of the fridge. Again, wipe all the large detritus out & then you can spray and clean it out. You’re now ready to reinstall the shelves and drawers and close the door.
  • Now, moving back to the old, expired and unwanted items:
    • Grab your garbage can & bags and double bag it-we’re going to be emptying your solids into the bag. But first, your liquids can be poured into your drain & washed down the drain. Once you do so, make sure to rinse out the container & then place the container into either your recycling bin OR your garbage can.
    • Once your liquids are done, follow the same steps but pour your solids into the garbage bag, and then rinse and place your old containers into the garbage bin or the recycling bin.

After you’ve completed ridding yourself of food items you no longer need, take your garbage can & recycling bin out to the curb, and you’ll completed phase one of your Spring refrigerator clean out. Next week, we’re going to tackle replacing those items back into the fridge in a clean, efficient and organized way.

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