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Post by Emma on Jul 18, 2015 9:47:52 GMT -5
sidestep, your freezer on the bottom sounds wonderful! I got a fridge so small, that I could pick it up myself, and put it into my car. I put it on top of some shelving so that I wouldn't have to crouch down and turn myself into a pretzel to see what was on the bottom. I've had it for a few years now, but it still feels like a new fridge to me. I don't know if I could pick it up now, but, could slide it, if needed. I'm glad you like yours. For some reason, it seems important to me, to have appliances I really like.
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Post by casper on Jul 18, 2015 12:40:59 GMT -5
OK... Wanted to thank you ALL for helping me find the motivation to clean the fridge! Removed everything, food, shelves, drawers. Wiped out empty fridge, washed off all the components. Wiped off the food stuff as I put back in. Not much food in there right now. Then, I emptied the self defrosting freezer! Wiped it all out and washed the shelf and door shelves too. Thanks!
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Post by CaringFriend on Jul 18, 2015 21:25:54 GMT -5
My new fridge (well, it's 4 yrs old, but still feels new ) has the freezer on the bottom which puts the everyday refrigerated stuff at eye level & it is PERFECT-- Looooove It! sidestep, I LOVE my fridge with a bottom freezer as well....for the same reason you mentioned - seeing foods at eye level. Having a freezer on the bottom seems to make sense, too, since it isn't used as frequently. I "inherited" my first bottom freezer when we bought a house 30+ years ago. Loved it right away. At some point I went out and bought Pyrex glass refrigerator containers that have plastic lids. The small rectangular size works perfectly for me since there's just me and DH. We usually have the same meal 2 nights in a row. The leftovers from the first night are divided between 2 Pyrex rectangulars. The second night all we have to do is reheat them in the microwave and eat right out of the same containers - no extra dirty dishes! After a couple of really busy days out of the house for appointment and errands, I finally was able to finish cleaning the inside and outside of the fridge. I checked the freezer and found that it needed no attention because I had reorganized it about a month or so ago. The biggest and most helpful change I made at that previous time was to insert 2 mini plastic baskets and sort foods into them. Since doing that, nothing has been lost or forgotten in the freezer. And it is so much easier for my DH to find what he wants without digging through everything. The one thing I'd still like to do is have the refrigerator pulled out so I can vacuum the back of it for safety and efficiency reasons. I may have shared these ideas on this site before, but this thread is a perfect time and place to share again: - Cleaning out the inside of my fridge was so easy because I place white "bar towels" on the shelves and in the crispers to catch debris and sticky rings from bottle and cans. All I had to do was clear out a shelf, remove the soiled towel and replace it with a fresh one. I have 2 sets of towels that I use just for this purpose. At first I tried using paper towels, but when they got something wet on them, they ended up sticking to the shelf or crisper, making the job harder. Of course I couldn't put those towels in the shelves on the door, but they were easy to remove, wash, dry, and snap back in.
- I once had a repairman here to replace the rubber gasket on the freezer door. It was flattened in places and had splits in other places. He explained to me that the flattened parts come from wear, but the split sections came from the rubber gasket sticking to the frame of the fridge and would split from the pressure of opening the door. To prevent the splits from happening, he recommended getting into the habit of washing the rubber gaskets on the fridge and freezer doors and the parts of the refrigerator they touch.
sidestep, Thank you for starting this challenge and thanks to all for sharing their journeys and ideas. I always learn so much from other people! ~ CF ~
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Post by dtesposito on Jul 19, 2015 19:30:59 GMT -5
I'm here to report that I purged/reorganized the entire fridge today, AND I removed the bottom shelf so I could wash the bottom and back part of the bottom, these are the only parts of the main fridge that get dirty.
I was going to stop there, but because of CaringFriend's reminder above, I'm going to put cleaning the gaskets and door shelves on my list for tomorrow.
I have a couple of baskets in my freezer, and 4 of them in my fridge--they've made a huge difference to reduce the aggravation of finding things, reaching things, and having things get pushed to the back and be forgotten. I wish I had some that were made to fit the fridge, the ones I have are just improvised and they leave a kind of inefficient space in between them--but I still love them.
Diane
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Post by phoenixcat on Jul 20, 2015 0:09:21 GMT -5
Count another one in I definitely didn't go "whole hog" like many here but I cleaned everything I could without taking out all the bins and shelves and cleaning them separately. Threw out a bunch of expired food - mostly "door" type stuff - salad dressings, etc. Did a quick scrub of the freezer too. All wire shelves so not very dirty. And, most of the food was still good. Very bright and white when you open the door now Sidestep - thanks for starting this challenge - definitely something that I was procrastinating on. PC
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Post by ohblondie on Jul 20, 2015 6:50:49 GMT -5
I DID IT!!!!!! I cleaned my fridge! I was motivated by this thread because I wanted to be able to sign on this morning and report out!!
I wiped down the shelves, tossed old food, dishwasher is full of the empty containers. A full bag of trash headed to the can. I tossed old containers of juice (embarassed to disclose how old they were. only one science experiment - but another container was ready to become an experiment. I could not take the shelves out - but I wiped and cleaned so carefully.
I still have to do the door and the freezer - but the door is in pretty good shape.
I went grocery shopping and actually had room for everything!
I should probably think about scrubbing down the outside of it........
Thank you everyone for motivating me to accomplish this task!!!!!
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Post by SheCanAndWill on Jul 20, 2015 17:44:33 GMT -5
Ooooooh, tons of fridges are looking lovely! Great job, everyone! I (ahem) let myself get pulled under into some depression the last few days. Several smallish things, one fairly big thing, and I moped & did not much of anything. One of those things is that DH's wallet has gone missing. Without DH's wallet being found, we simply can't shop. It's been missing for a week and a half, and this is only one of a myriad of times it's gone missing. Sigh. So. Anyway - I didn't get to the fridge, BUT I'm determined to at least do SOMETHING towards the fridge cleanout before the end of the month.
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Post by sidestep on Jul 20, 2015 20:46:44 GMT -5
needmorecoffee, to the Clean Fridge Challenge! Glad you could join us & ! ~~~~~ dtesposito, Congratulations on purging & reorganizing your fridge along with cleaning the bottom shelf! I bet it's all shiny in there! ~~~~~ casper, with your complete removal & cleaning of All-The-Things including the self-defrost! ~~~ ~~~~~ CaringFriend, on completing the Clean Fridge Challenge, & thanks for all your helpful tips along the way regarding lining with fridge towels, pyrex storage, using baskets & cleaning those rubber gaskets! fellow freezer on the bottom lover!
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Post by dtesposito on Jul 20, 2015 20:58:35 GMT -5
I bet it's all shiny in there!Sidestep, it's not exactly shiny, but now when I open the door I DO notice that everything does look white, which is the color it's supposed to be. I did do the gaskets today, and I got the grooves nice and clean, but there's a tiny amount of black gunk along the seam of the gasket and the door, which I tried to remove with a toothpick and a pin but I was not successful. It's not much, it just annoyed me--but I'm not going to spend any more time on it, considering that I expect the fridge to break down any day and I'll have to buy a new one! I'm amazed it got through last summer, so it's on borrowed time right now. I also washed off the top of the fridge, although, since I did that a couple of months ago, it just had a light layer of dust instead of the 1/2 inch thick debris of years past. I did not get to the door shelves or the freezer, maybe tomorrow. For those of you with a bottom freezer, is the whole thing a giant basket that pulls out? If not, don't you have the same problem, rummaging around on the floor for things in the corner? Diane
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Post by sidestep on Jul 20, 2015 21:02:02 GMT -5
phoenixcat, on purging the old food, removing the door stuff, & extra credit for scrubbing the freezer! ~~~~~ ohblondie, You Did It! Congratulations of getting that old food tossed & cleaning those shelves! ~~~~~ SheCanAndWill, finding that wallet & continuing on with the Clean Fridge Challenge! ~~~~~ Thanks everyone for your participation! Congratulations to everyone that has completed the challenge! Good Luck everyone that is still working on it! It's not to late to join in, you still have until the end of the month!
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Post by sidestep on Jul 20, 2015 21:08:29 GMT -5
dtesposito, mine has a giant nylon-coated basket on wheels that slides out on the bottom, & above that is a long shelf. It lights up in there too! It does cause me to clean my gaskets more often than I usually would, 'cuz I can see it & the top of the freezer gasket has a tendency to want to mildew.
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Post by joyinvirginia on Jul 21, 2015 12:09:46 GMT -5
Caring friend, I am going to use your idea and swap out my paper towels in the bottom of drawers for cloth towels. Great idea! I wiped off shelves yesterday.
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Post by immaculata on Jul 21, 2015 15:00:48 GMT -5
There's been a problem with the drawer at the bottom of the fridge. Everytime I pulled it out to get some vegetables, a large puddle of cold water would come out with it and soak my unsuspecting toes and the floor. I didn't know what was causing this so I googled a bit, and apparently it might have been caused by a gunked-up opening? So I got the cotton buds (Q-tips) and stuck one in the opening (which, weirdly, is two thirds of the way down the back of the fridge, not at the bottom as one would expect), and wiggled it around. It came out covered in muck. (Sorry for TMI!) So I got a new cotton bud and tried again, and again and again until the cotton buds were coming out white. So far, no new flood has frozen my feet. So that's good. Tomorrow, I'm going to tackle the door, the place where part-used milk cartons go to die.
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Post by seashell on Jul 21, 2015 15:44:13 GMT -5
I wiped down the outsides of the doors and the door handles. Amazing how dirty they had gotten. So I'm doing a little at a time. The inside of the fridge is still cleared of ancient things--will get it cleaned soon.
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Post by sidestep on Jul 27, 2015 5:11:05 GMT -5
dtesposito, belated congrats on getting to the gaskets & grooves! Further on cleaning the top of the fridge too! ~~~~~ joyinvirginia, I hope the 'towel trick' is working for you & you managed to get to those shelves! ~~~~~ immaculata, using Q-Tips (love the term cotton-buds!) on the drain, & I'm glad it has kept you from having cold, flooded feet! cleaning the door of those old milk cartons! ~~~~~ seashell, cleaning the outside doors & handles! I hope cleaning the inside went well!
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