Frequency of cleaning out refrigerator

[Night Elf]

I noticed the state of my refrigerator last night. The shelves need a good scrubbing. I can't remember the last time I did it.

 

What about you? :tongue_smilie:

[Murphy101]

oops I shouldn't read your post before voting.

 

I clear out the stuff in it once a week.

Now a true cleaning, involving scrubing shelves and stuff? Um. Whenever I see the need. Might be weekly, might be months.

[Crimson Wife]

oops I shouldn't read your post before voting.

 

I clear out the stuff in it once a week.

Now a true cleaning, involving scrubing shelves and stuff? Um. Whenever I see the need. Might be weekly, might be months.

 

:iagree:

I clear out the stuff in the fridge a couple times per week. I do a thorough cleaning of the inside maybe every 2-3 months. Now sadly I don't pull out the fridge & clean the floor behind & underneath remotely as much as I should. I just did that in our old rental as part of our moveout and YUCK! :blushing:

[kpupg]

What about you? :tongue_smilie:

 

I never clean out the entire frig or freezer at one time.

 

I clean individual shelves as I notice they need it. When they are starting to get bare, I will notice they need a wipedown. I'll take out the few remaining items on that shelf and clean it, wipe off the bottles and replace them.

 

Same with the produce drawers, except I do take those out and rinse them at the sink, then dry and replace.

 

The only exception I can think of is an incident a few weeks ago when I had a thawing piece of meat drip blood all over everything. Then I cleaned a lot more than normal to take care of that nasty mess :)

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

I've gotten into the habit of wiping down the shelves every 1-2 weeks -- or after a major grocery shopping trip, when the fridge is pretty bare.

[sleepymommy]

I used to do an entire scrub down 1x month. But since ds2 it's become whenever it gets really gross. I'm trying to get back to 1x a month though.

[Perry]

I do it every Saturday, before I do the weekly shopping. I don't take everything out, I just slide everything over to one side, wipe down the shelf, then slide it to to the other side and clean that side. I do take the veggie/fruit drawers out and give them a good wipe down so I can get to the bottom of the fridge. I only clean the shelves attached to the doors about once a month.

 

It takes about 15 minutes, and I never have to take it all apart and do a deep cleaning anymore, because it never gets that dirty. The best thing is that I always know exactly what's in the fridge so I don't end up with extras and I don't run out of stuff very often.

[Daisy]

I *never* do it but it gets done once a week. :D

 

10yo daughter's weekly job. She LOVES it. She'll dust and organize my pantry and cabinets too. It has something to do with her love for organizing things.

[LauraGB]

I clear out the expired or old things only when I get back from the grocery store and need the space. The shelves get cleaned off when they look really gross and I finally notice it. My thought is that it is too cold in there to really grow anything good if its not directly on food, so I'm okay with my very lazy method.

 

Except when I forget to look before people come over. Specifically, my mom or my mil. :blushing:

 

 

Then I consider getting more on the ball with those things, but once she leaves and my embarassment subsides, its back to business as usual.

[cani e porci]

When I notice it should be done, but not quite often enough. I haven't discovered sentient life in my fridge since college, though.

[MariannNOVA]

Once a week -- I hate an icky fridge. The housekeeping staff here at the hotel laughs at our 'kitchen.' :smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5: You could perform surgery in it -- I am a cleaning nut. I baked Christmas cookies and made truffles in December -- I prepared a tray of goodies and sent it down to the front desk -- the hotel manager said the staff was on that tray in an instant -- 'our' housekeeping person was telling everyone: "OOOOOOOOH! Her kitchen is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO clean -- go ahead, EAT!":lol:

 

It will get cleaned more often if a holiday is coming, an extra trip to the store for said holiday occurs, -- I just cannot stand a less than clean fridge.

 

Mariann :leaving:I have to leave.....I just heard some dirt!

[Parrothead]

I've gotten into the habit of wiping down the shelves every 1-2 weeks -- or after a major grocery shopping trip, when the fridge is pretty bare.

:iagree: That would be my system too.

[tdeveson]

Every Wednesday (Thursday is grocery day). Stuff gets thrown out and the shelves and drawers get cleaned out. It takes 10 minutes. If I let it go, then it's a big gross job.

[Jen in PA]

I voted every 3 months because that's how often I do a more thorough cleaning job, but I do maintenance on it regularly. I wipe things as I notice them, toss old food the night before the garbage is collected, and wipe the front daily. The shelves in the door get sticky pretty easily with kids pulling condiments out and oputting them back on their own, so I tend to wipe those weekly.

[TheCoffeeChick]

I voted once every 6 months - that is how often I literally take EVERY item out of the fridge/freezer and wipe it down with bleach. I wipe up spills or messes as they happen though and I clean out expired food or old left overs once a week when I do grocery shopping.

[Closeacademy]

We did ours today. We've been watching lots of episodes of Hoarders and it really gets you in the mood to clean.:001_smile:

[SonshineLearner]

I refuse to say how often I do it:-) Although... what it really needs is the gratish type thing at the bottom. I've tried to clean it... and it just never really looks clean... urgh

[Mynyel]

I chose other...whats cleaning out a refrigerator mean? ;)

 

:grouphug::grouphug:

[Spy Car]

We got a brand-new fridge delivered today. I just put the first thing in it as it just came to temperature.

 

Happy dance :party:

 

Bill

[Truscifi]

Congrats, Spycar.

 

I clean mine out when i notice it needs it, which is probably not often enough. :glare:

[Liz CA]

I think I will have to do it before my mother visits. :tongue_smilie:

[LauraGB]

We got a brand-new fridge delivered today. I just put the first thing in it as it just came to temperature.

 

Happy dance :party:

 

Bill

 

So, instead of cleaning it, you just buy a new one? Nice!! :thumbup1:

Edited January 16, 2010 by LauraGB

[Tutor]

I never clean out the entire frig or freezer at one time.

 

I clean individual shelves as I notice they need it. When they are starting to get bare, I will notice they need a wipedown. I'll take out the few remaining items on that shelf and clean it, wipe off the bottles and replace them.

 

Same with the produce drawers, except I do take those out and rinse them at the sink, then dry and replace.

 

The only exception I can think of is an incident a few weeks ago when I had a thawing piece of meat drip blood all over everything. Then I cleaned a lot more than normal to take care of that nasty mess :)

 

This is my MO as well. Just wiped a couple shelves today, in fact.

[elise1mds]

I haven't discovered sentient life in my fridge since college, though.

:lol:

 

I do it probably every 3-6 months, when I notice it needs it. I don't get a whole lot of spills other than olives, for some reason, and I go through everything pretty regularly to make sure nothing's getting gross. I ALWAYS do it before hosting big parties, so that guarantees it happens at least four times a year.

[Spy Car]

So, instead of cleaning it, you just buy a new one? Nice!! :thumbup1:

 

Sure. Isn't that what everyone does? :D

 

Good bye 20+ year old Sub Zero, hello Kitchenaid

 

Bill

[cani e porci]

Thank you for the inspiration to clean my refrigerator today. This post kept nudging me, and I broke down and took 20 minutes to clean it this afternoon. I didn't think my refrigerator looked bad at all, but I can't believe the difference! :D

[swellmomma]

I do mine the night before grocery day. It is pretty darned empty by then making it a perfect time to clean the shelves. This works out to doing it pretty much bi-weekly though occasionally more often. It is one of the few areas in my house I have no problem keeping clean. Could be the fact I rarely have a lot in there to begin with lol

[Peela]

I never used to do it so much but now that 80% of my diet is fresh fruit and vegies, I dont mind cleaning out the fridge weekly. But that doesnt mean a full emptying and scrub- that only happens every few months.

[AuntieM]

I chose every 3 months because I noticed the words "shelf" and "scrub"... I toss weekly on garbage day, but I would say I do a shuffle and wipe more like every 3 months. Washing down the shelves.... once or twice a year, maybe?

[In the Rain]

I never clean out the entire frig or freezer at one time.

 

I clean individual shelves as I notice they need it. When they are starting to get bare, I will notice they need a wipedown. I'll take out the few remaining items on that shelf and clean it, wipe off the bottles and replace them.

 

Same with the produce drawers, except I do take those out and rinse them at the sink, then dry and replace.

 

The only exception I can think of is an incident a few weeks ago when I had a thawing piece of meat drip blood all over everything. Then I cleaned a lot more than normal to take care of that nasty mess :)

 

:iagree: This is exactly my approach, including a recent round of dripping disaster (maple syrup). :tongue_smilie:

[Melissa in Australia]

I never clean out the entire frig or freezer at one time.

 

I clean individual shelves as I notice they need it. When they are starting to get bare, I will notice they need a wipedown. I'll take out the few remaining items on that shelf and clean it, wipe off the bottles and replace them.

 

Same with the produce drawers, except I do take those out and rinse them at the sink, then dry and replace.

 

The only exception I can think of is an incident a few weeks ago when I had a thawing piece of meat drip blood all over everything. Then I cleaned a lot more than normal to take care of that nasty mess :)

 

me too!

though I do clean out the deep freezer every few months, just before having the next animal butchered

[Dawn in OH]

I throw out leftover food sitting in the fridge about once a week. As for a good deep clean, I aim for once a month, usually right before the next shopping trip when it's most empty. It doesn't always happen though. I do wipe up any messes or spills when I notice them.

[hornblower]

Don't forget to put cleaning the coils on your list of regular cleaning tasks!

 

I blogged this years ago (warning - complete with gross pix of dirty coils)

 

http://hmsindefatigable.blogspot.com/2007/09/in-which-i-gross-you-out.html

 

Your fridge will last longer & be more energy efficient if you vacuum coils on a regular basis.