During the month of April, I’m encouraging my readers to participate in a 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge (read more here, if you missed my announcement about this challenge last week). Every week day morning at 9 a.m., I’ll post the daily project and every evening around 6 p.m. EST, I’ll post an update and link-up.
April 18, 2013 Project
Your project for today is to clean out your refrigerator and/or organize your pantry.
Is this a project you love or loathe? For me, it’s a little bit of both. I don’t enjoy doing it, but it always makes me so happy when it’s done!
Come back here at 6 p.m. EST and I’ll show you pictures of my cleaning accomplishments for today and have a linky so you can link up yours, too!
Join in the Chatter
::Want to blog about this challenge? If you’re blogging through this challenge with me, be sure to leave your link to your direct post on the daily check-ins. Plus, if you’d like to post your daily posts to the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge Pinterest Group, just shoot me an email (moneysavingmom @ gmail dot com) and I’ll invite you.
::Want to follow along on Twitter or Instagram? I’ll also be sharing some of my cleaning pictures on my Facebook Page, my Twitter account, and my Instagram account. I’d love to have you do the same or join in the discussion on Twitter and Instagram. Just follow hashtag #Cleanin30 to see what others are tweeting and Instagramming about this challenge!
Nancy says
Thanks for this challenge! It has really helped motivate me for spring cleaning this year.
Katie says
I saw them in mine yesterday!
K Quinn says
I’m actually skipping today’s challenge. I’ve ordered some baskets to revamp my kitchen area so I’m waiting for them to come sometime next week. Be interesting to see how people clean these areas to give me some ideas on the attack!
dana says
EEEEE! I never comment but I have been reading you for years, Crystal. I cleaned my pantry AND my fridge this past weekend, inspired by this 30-day cleanup thingy. I was a little ahead of you, I guess. 🙂
Crystal says
Go you!
Jessica @Proverbslady.com says
I’m so glad it’s the fridge today! I did my pantry last week but my fridge really needs it and since I will be doing my main shopping tomorrow it will really help to have a nice clean slate to put everything away in.
Kim M says
I did this last weekend due to so much stuff crammed in there, we couldn’t open the door with something falling out. I can’t believe the amount of stuff we had in our fridge that had to be disposed of. The biggest offender: the fridge door. Most of the dressings, marinades, condiments that aren’t used regularly were expired. While it DID free up a lot of space, it now looks naked!!
Our pantry area was the same way, little partial bags of rice or beans, old cakes mixes I’d forgotten we bought, and other stuff like that. I think this part of the challenge was a long time in coming!
Pam@behealthybehappywellness says
We had a mouse over Christmas, so my pantry is AMAZING. However, my fridge could use some help, so I’ll get right on it! Thanks for the challenges!
September says
Talk about a coincidence…I hadn’t even seen this but got up this morning, had a fit of inspiration and completely cleaned out our side by side fridge/freezer as well as the large stand-alone freezer in the garage! It looks SO much better, and I couldn’t believe how much I had in there once I organized!
Lana says
Cleaning my second refrigerator is what needs doing at my house. I want to go and get some plastic baskets for organizing the shelves which will make shopping easier because I will be able to see what I need much more easily. Unfortunately this morning I found that the door had not been shut tight all night. I seem to have a gallon of sour milk and everything else is fine but I need to leave that fridge shut for the day to let it get completely cold again. I hate it when that happens! grrrrr… I think it will get done next week or over the weekend.
Sandra says
I just did my refriderator, freezer and pantry this past weekend so, I think I will tackle cleaning the windows and vacuuming out the car today instead. Have a great day everyone!
Diana at SAHMonomics says
For me, today’s activity would definitely be an “OR” not an “AND”! The refridgerator is not too bad, but the pantry may take two days on its own to reorganize. lol
Shelly says
This is the one job (the refrigerator) that I really don’t like to do. But I have been doing better, anytime I notice a little smudge or stickiness on the shelves I wipe it us right away. So I am hoping it is not too bad today. Pantry organizing is something I do regularly to keep us eating our stored food before it goes bad so that is more of my thing. 🙂
Kim says
Woohoo!! I cleaned out the frig last night!!
Kelly Love says
This is perfect because tomorrow is trash day and I have some leftovers that need to go.
Jessica says
I finished organizing my pantry and basement food storage this morning. I removed some expired items that were well past the use by date and bagged up some items I know we’re not going to use, for the food pantry.
The U.S. Postal service food collection is May 11 this year. I’m not sure if all communities participate, but I got a postcard in the mail about it and I live in Columbus, OH. So if you find stuff in your pantry you don’t want and it’s not expired, that’s one option for donating! You don’t even have to go anywhere, you just put the bag by your mailbox.
Katie says
I was able to clean out the pantry yesterday so the fridge is on my to-do list today! Does anyone know the best way or best cleaners to use to clean inside of the refrigerator?
Jessica says
I use Dawn dishsoap.
Lana says
I try not to use anything with fragrance to clean the refrigerator because it can absorb into your food. I just use a microfiber cloth and water.
WilliamB says
I find that elbow grease is enough unless something hazardous – like meat juices – have spilled. So most of the time I use a wet sponge, or a sponge with a 25% vinegar / 75% water solution. Shelves, drawers, and such I wash in the sink with dishsoap.
September says
I’m also a big fan of vinegar and water–it really does clean most things. I’ll also occasionally sprinkle baking soda onto a tough spot to scrub.
This may sound weird, but I also use the dishwasher to clean all of the door bins, drawers and the like…if I can fit it into the dishwasher I stuff it all in there and do a quick cycle (it also helps that I have a Bosch without heating elements, so I can put plastics in the bottom level, which is larger). It will take a couple of loads to get all of the stuff through, but it really is *clean* without too much effort on my part.