Best Tips for Cleaning Your Fridge When You Don’t Have Time

Do you ever open your fridge and think….ughh…I really need to find an afternoon to clean that! Then life happens, so the cleaning never really happens.

This post is all about simple tips to keep your fridge clean. It gets used daily and seems to constantly get dirty. Crumbs, spills, and little drips of milk somehow make their way to the bottom of the jug. Then leave a white, crusty residue underneath. (How?!?!)

Keeping a clean and organized fridge helps you find food faster. It also allows you to put food away more quickly. It keeps your fridge from developing bad odors and helps prevent food waste. You build a habit of looking through your fridge and wiping every week. You can check for old or almost old food at that time. BEFORE it goes bad.

You can clean your fridge in 5 or 10-minute chunks. Even if your fridge is a disaster, you can create a plan to prevent it from getting worse. You can slowly chip away at it to make improvements.

Why does the fridge get so dirty?

• Kids are in and out of the fridge and aren’t worried about keeping the fridge organized.
• You need to unload the groceries fast, so you shove everything in quickly. You don’t realize that old food that got pushed to the back will soon mold.
• Something spills, but you are in a hurry to cook supper. So the gunk hardens and builds…and builds… and builds… The fridge cleaning chore gets more and more overwhelming.
• Let’s be honest, it isn’t just the fridge that gets dirty. If you need more tips for keeping your entire kitchen cleaner, check out this post.

Best Tips for Fridge Cleaning

Use these tips to turn your fridge from gross to gleaming! Ok maybe not gleaming, but definitely cleaner. Anyone can find 5 minutes to clean the fridge. Do that a handful of times and you will be well on your way to a cleaner fridge.

Fridge Cleaning-Inside

• Plan 5-10 minutes to go through the fridge when you set up your grocery pickup.
  • If you are planning on getting groceries, your fridge is probably emptier than normal. This is the perfect time to take a quick inventory. You are probably looking in there anyway for what to add to your list.
  • Check if anything needs to get thrown out or used up before it expires.
  • Then do some quick wiping. 5 minutes every week adds up.
  • If you have more time, get more thorough. If not, at least you are making improvements!

Feel free to use this schedule as a starting point. If you can’t get to some shelves in 5 minutes, write a note. Leave it somewhere in or near the fridge. Usually it is noticeable which ones you got cleaned.

Sample Weekly Fridge Cleaning Schedule

• Week 1-Set 5-minute timer and go through the main shelves.
  • Take items off half of the shelf. If you have narrow shelves, just take everything off the shelf and set on the nearest shelf. Or take out completely if your fridge is too full.
  • Use warm, soapy water and a rag to wipe. You can also use a bottle of peroxide spray and a microfiber cloth.
  • Wipe food container bottoms. Then move items to the clean side of the shelf. Or transfer items from a dirty shelf to the clean shelf. Keep working shelf by shelf until the timer rings.
  • After the timer rings, you can finish the shelves. Or just get some of the bigger noticeable gunk. Make a note to finish the rest next time.
• Week 2-Set a 5-minute timer and go through door shelves.
  • Start with your most used shelf and take everything out.
  • If the shelf is removable, take it out and set it in the sink. If it isn’t, give it a spray and wipe. Sometimes a toothbrush or toothpick is helpful for those hard-to-reach areas.
  • Wipe inside fridge door walls and put shelves back.
  • Wipe the bottom of food bottles/containers and put them back on shelves.
  • Give the shelves you did last week a quick wipe.
• Week 3-Drawers
  • Take everything out of the drawer and take out the drawer.
  • Spray/soak the drawer in the sink while you wipe under the drawer in the fridge.
  • Rinse the drawer and dry it off. Put it back in the fridge and stock it with food.
  • Give the shelves you did last week a quick wipe.
• Week 4-Freezer
  • Start with the main shelves. Move items side to side if there’s room or take items out. Wipe with a rag and towel if frosty dirt and crumbs are stubborn.
  • Put items back and keep rotating through the freezer during the next cleaning period.
• Week 5 and beyond-Repeat
  • Repeat steps weekly starting with the dirtiest sections.
  • After you get through the entire fridge, it gets so much easier.

**If your fridge is really tough to clean, it will take a couple of weeks to get through each the different fridge sections. That is totally ok! It is still progress.

• FAQ—“Won’t everything I did 4 weeks ago just get gross again? That is a lot of weeks to clean the entire fridge”
  • If the goal is to keep the fridge cleaner, you will find yourself being more careful about spills overall. Your fridge likely won’t get as bad again as when you started.
  • It is much easier to keep up than to catch up. These steps are more like the catch up part of it. Then the quick wipes are the keep up part of the equation.
• Even if you only clean your fridge for 5 minutes before getting groceries, it will be a lot cleaner. This method will significantly improve how clean your fridge is after a few weeks.

This post contains additional fridge-cleaning details. It is helpful if you want to take a little more time for a complete overhaul.

Fridge Cleaning-Outside

• Start a habit of wiping spills as soon as they happen. Give the fridge front and handles a quick wipe every couple of days. This is helpful to keep it looking clean.
• For Stainless steel fridges-coconut/vegetable/olive oil works great for shining stainless steel
  • Wipe the fridge outside with a clean washcloth.
    • The oil is NOT a cleaner, just a sealant to protect the outside from moisture and restore the finish.
  • Pour a few drops of oil on a microfiber cloth.
  • Wipe side to side with the direction of the grain.
    

Underneath/Behind the fridge

• It is good to slide the entire fridge forward once a year to vacuum and wipe.
  • I like to start by taking everything off the top of my fridge.
  • Slowly slide out until the back of the fridge is just past where the front of the fridge normally sits.
  • Use a stool to wipe the top and sides of the fridge.
  • Use a vacuum to suck up the big dirt from the floor behind the fridge. (Do this so you aren’t stepping in a bunch of dirt and tracking it around)
    • Check the sides/walls around the fridge.
    • Vacuum the back of the fridge and fridge vent.
    • Then give the floor one more quick vacuum.
  • Wipe walls around the fridge, back of the fridge, and vent. Then wipe the floor last.
  • Slowly push the fridge back in place. Keep an eye on the power cord and water hose if there is one.
• In a pinch, you can use a yardstick/broom handle and tape a long sock or microfiber cloth to the end. Wipe underneath the fridge and try to pull towards the front as much as you can. It won’t be perfect, but it will do the trick to get a good chunk of the dirt. You may even find a few treasures (magnets, pens, food chunks oh my)!

Conclusion

• Cleaning the fridge can be an extremely overwhelming task. It doesn’t have to take hours to stay on top of it. These tips can be a great way to start a simple routine to keep your fridge clean. And help reduce food waste!