It doesn’t take long for the interior of a fridge to become a real mess. This is especially true when you’re dealing with an apartment fridge, simply because there’s a lot less storage space. Less storage space means things get crowded together, which makes it easier to knock something down. You won’t necessarily see the spill after you close the door. Many messes accumulate gradually. Vegetables shed leaves. Sticky jars are hastily put away, leaving streaks on door shelves. It can also take people a long time to get around to their fridge because once you close the door you can’t see the mess anymore! Tip #1: Make it a Routine  Don’t wait until the refrigerator  is hopeless. At that point the job is huge, and you’ll be tempted to procrastinate even longer. Instead, commit to cleaning your fridge just before you do your grocery shopping. There will be less food to contend with. You may also save money by doing this. As you take everything out of the fridge it will be easy to note what you already have. You can consolidate duplicates and cross a few items off of your grocery list. This is also a good time to wipe down all of your jars, just in case they’re contributing to the mess. Tip #2: Remove all Shelves and Drawers  Don’t try to wipe down shelves and drawers while they are still inside of your fridge. You won’t be able to get all of the gunk out of them. Instead, remove all of the shelves and all of the drawers. Then you can really scrub down the entire fridge interior. The shelves and drawers can be washed separately, either in your kitchen sink, in your bathtub, or even outside with the hose. You can use a bit of glass cleaner to really make your shelves and drawers shine before putting them back inside. Tip #3: Fight Odors the Easy Way Sometimes odors just accumulate inside of the fridge in spite of your best efforts. Odors can make all of your food taste very odd, and can even ruin it. So it’s important to find a way to tackle odors between clean-up jobs. Fortunately, this is usually as easy as placing an open box of baking soda in the very back of your fridge. If you have a serious smell in one of your drawers you might have to treat them with a paper bag. Just take everything out of the drawer and place a paper bag inside for 2 days. When you throw away the paper bag the odor will be gone. A clean, odor-free fridge is the key to a healthy family and tasty food, so don’t neglect these tips!