Tip: Clean The Refrigerator Daily In 10 Minute Chunks

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If you dread the chore of a thorough refrigerator cleaning job that should be done regularly (or your fridge turns into one funky mess), here’s an easy way to avoid the big task:

No Need To Fully Empty The Fridge Each Time You Clean It

Break the job down into 10 minute daily chunks of time.

To get started, divide the fridge into a maximum of 7 sections:

• The inside door
• Each shelf counts as one section
• Drawers
• Outside

Each day assign 10 minutes to remove the food items from one section–wash the racks/shelves/drawers, all surrounding wall surfaces, toss expired food items and put everything back in a neat and organized manner. Top up with a fresh deodorizer as needed (see ideas below).

For the outside, do a deep clean on top (removing anything placed there) and scrub down all sides.

By keeping the sections to 7 or less, your refrigerator is thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned each and every week (in 10 minute daily chunks of time). Nice!

Easy Deodorizers

*First published April 18, 2007 and moved to this page for better organization

Keep your appliance smelling fresh with one of these deodorizer ideas:

Clean & Fresh Fridge

• An open box of baking soda or an open bowl/container filled with baking soda
• A small muslin or cloth bag or open container filled with fresh coffee grounds
• Keep an open container of charcoal briquettes in the fridge
• Open dish with 1/2 cup baking soda and 2 TBS vanilla extract or 2 TBS lemon juice mixed in
• A dab or two of vanilla extract on a cotton ball
• Salt packed citrus shells: fill an empty orange, grapefruit or lemon shell with salt then put in the back of your fridge. The salt will help absorb nasty odors (see more info on this page).

Voila! Stale smelling fridges are a problem no more.