Clean the refrigerator day is a day that so many of us run from. We dread what is living at the bottom of the veggie crisper, opening the mystery Tupperware container and trying to figure out how we get that sticky spot off the shelf. As hard as we try to minimize these disasters, it still becomes a mess. Here are a few tips that will help you get your refrigerator clean in less than 40 minutes,

Take everything out!

The easiest thing to do is get everything out as fast as you can. Place all the food on the counter, and pull all the shelves and drawers out that can be removed.

Take all the shelves and drawers into your bathroom and put them in the bathtub.

I know this sounds crazy but think about it. You can add all the water and your dish cleaner of choice and leave the shelves and drawers soaking in the tub. Just put them in and walk away until you finish going through the food and cleaning the interior of the refrigerator.

Sort through the food.

Now that you have everything soaking, you can go back and look through the food. If you want to keep it, put it in a group and group it with other things you want to be near it. Throw away all the expired and rotten food, and dump those mystery containers and place them in the dishwasher.

Wipe Down the Inside

Take your favorite cleaner wipe everything down. This task should go a lot smoother now that everything is out of your way.

Reassemble

Now it is time to go back into the bathroom, rinse everything off, and quickly let it drip dry. Head back into the kitchen and replace all the shelves and drawers in the refrigerator.

Add the food.

Since you have organized all the food into groups, placing the food back into the refrigerator will go smoothly. You won’t have to search for items or rearrange to get that last bottle of salad dressing in with the others because it got left out. Everything will be streamlined.

Now everything is back together, you feel good about the task you just took on, and you have gotten back some time in your day.