If you’re clueless about what’s lurking in the back of your refrigerator, it’s time to clean it out!  I realize that most people dread cleaning out the refrigerator.  (I think they’re even a little frightened by what they might find in there.)

One of the best reasons to keep your refrigerator cleaned is to help you stay organized.  In simple terms, it saves you money by allowing you to adequately use up your leftovers and keep you from buying an extra bottle of ketchup when you realized that you already had two in the fridge.

The best day to clean out the refrigerator is when you’re planning to do your major grocery shopping. For thrifty-minded moms, this helps you double check on what extra items need to be added to your list.  You may also plan on using some items in your freezer area for that coming week.  It truly is a great time to do some cleanup because it’s so easy to forget what you have on hand.

Over the years, I have found that weekly upkeep works wonders and eliminates most of the dreadful task.  If you haven’t cleaned your refrigerator for quite awhile, plan to do a thorough job as soon as possible.  Once you’ve done a thorough cleaning, you should make plans for a weekly upkeep.

How to do a weekly upkeep:

Divide your refrigerator into four equal parts.  The freezer area should be considered as one part; the refrigerator area should be divided into the other three parts.  Each week do a through cleanup (washing the shelves) in one of the areas.  Then, simply tidy up the other three areas quickly.   Every four weeks your refrigerator will have one whole thorough cleaning.  You’ll also find that by continual maintenance, you won’t have much scrubbing to do at all, especially if you learn to wipe spills while they’re still fresh.

As always, please feel free to share your tips with all our women readers!

Here’s a short video on how to clean a refrigerator: