Things You'll Need:
- A new Box of Baking Soda
- A large, dry bath type towel
- At least 3 dish rags or wash cloths
- Bucket of warm water for the last wipe down
- Bucket of warm water mixed with dawn dish washing soap
- Bleach and water solution (preferably in a spray bottle)
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Step 1
Check your refrigerator daily.
Look for any food items that have spilled and if you find any then do a quick spot check. Meaning, you clean only that specific spill up as best as you can without removing everything from the fridge.
Look for any food that has spoiled or gone bad and remove it immediately.
Make sure that a random family member hasn't pushed something time sensitive to the back of the fridge where it has gone unnoticed and is slowly going bad and stinking up the fridge. -
Step 2
Once a week check the entire fridge over and even the freezer while your at it.
Look for any food items that might be expired.
If you do find expired items remove them immediately.
Don't forget to recycle all of the jars, jugs, bottles and plastic bags. Virtually everything is recyclable and believe me it is well worth the hassle to recycle. Future generations of all species will thank you. -
Step 3
Keep baking soda on hand to use specifically for your refrigerator.
Baking soda is known to absorb odors. Foods like garlic and hard boiled eggs can smell up your fridge and can even make other foods taste a little bit off.
To avoid this you can open a box of baking soda as the package directs and place this on the door of your fridge. It will soak up any strong smells, that pungent foods might give off.
Change out boxes of baking soda, once every other month or as needed.
Don't use baking soda for any other purposes if it has been used in the fridge. After removing it from the fridge it should be thrown out into the garbage. -
Step 4
Clean your refrigerator every 6 months.
Instructions :
Take out everything that is inside of the fridge and place any perishable items in the freezer for now. This will keep them from souring and going bad since the cleaning process will take about 30 minutes.
Clean every square inch of the fridge with warm soapy water and then with a bleach and water solution using a wash cloth.
Alternate between the 2 cleaning solutions until the fridge looks clean.
Keep scrubbing using a wash rag or dish cloth until you have cleaned up food crumbs or anything else that might have spilled in the fridge.
After it looks really clean to the naked eye, spray the bleach and water solution over the entire inside of the fridge and let that sit for 10 minutes with the refrigerator door closed. This will be your last attempt to clean any bacteria or germs, so let the solution sit for the entire 10 minutes in the hopes that anything harmful has been neutralized by the bleach and water solution.
Wipe the inside walls of the fridge down with a wet wash cloth to get any bleach and water mixture off. Bleach will become inert (Completely Safe) soon after it dries and the smell of bleach will quickly fade away.
Dry the inside of the fridge with a dry towel, then let the fridge dry out for about 10 minutes (with the door closed.)
Remove the perishable food from the freezer and place it and any remaining items back into the fridge.
Add a new Baking Soda to absorb the food odors.
Your refrigerator should look brand new and smell fresh and clean.
Comments
redar said
on 12/16/2009 Good 5* article, I am so glad you said bleach, my fave...LOL add, and recommend.
maryladd said
on 12/15/2009 How to Keep a Refrigerator Clean and Smelling Fresh is full of useful info. Good job on this article and I recommended you. 5 *
whoodo said
on 12/11/2009 Good, concise article. I keep 2 boxes of baking soda in my fridge. Now if I can get my 19 year old son to remember that bananas and fish will smell up a fridge and need to be tightly wrapped, I will have it made. 5*
gcthomahowto said
on 12/9/2009 Nice article. Thanks for sharing how you keep a fridge clean. Good job. 5*