Deep Clean and Organize the Refrigerator in 30 mins!

After dealing with my youngest daughter, husband, AND myself being sick the entire duration of my spring break, I was forced to get a weeks worth of cleaning done in two days. With that being said, cleaning/organizing my fridge was on the top of my to do list. Not only did I want to give it a deep clean, but I wanted to ensure it NEVER got as bad as it was again. Here is how I cleaned and organized my fridge in about 30 minutes!

What you will need:

• 5-7 Mainstay Refrigerator Baskets from  (depending on the size of your fridge)
• Glad Press and Seal Wrap
• Ammonia (yup I went old school)
• Water
• Sponge/Dishcloth
• Spray Bottle
• Bathtub

1. Fill your bathtub up with warm water, a cup of ammonia, and a few squirts of dish detergent. To save time go ahead and move to step 2, but make sure you check on your filling tub periodically.
2. Okay now let's empty the fridge. I sat all my items on my kitchen table during this step. 
3. Take out all removable parts of your fridge and place them in the water you ran in your tub. The only thing that I was not able to remove in my fridge was the bottom rack. I was however able to remove the glass portion that sits within the rack. Make sure that all parts of the fridge are submerged (or mostly submerged) in the water. Let these soak for about 15 minutes while you move on to step 4.
4. Fill your spray bottle halfway with ammonia and the other half with water. Spray the inside of the fridge with this mixture and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. While you wait go ahead and toss any items on your kitchen table that may be expired or items that you no longer use.
5. Using a sponge or dishcloth go ahead and wipe down the inside of your fridge. The ammonia/water mixture really works wonders and everything wipes off with ease.
6. Rinse (with warm water) and remove all items from the tub. You can chose to let these items air dry on a towel or to save time you could dry them with a paper towel. 
7. Once all items are dried go ahead and reattached the fixtures used for condiments. You can also go ahead and put your condiments back at this point.
8. Use the press and seal to cover the top of each shelving fixture prior to attaching it in your fridge. I ended up having to used two pieces of the wrap horizontally to cover each of my shelves. Using press and seal will prevent you from having to "deep clean" your fridge the next go round. Simply removed the press and seal, do a quick wipe down, and reapply more press and seal. If you look at the first picture on this blog you can barely see the press and seal as it blends in really well with the glass. Genius right? :)
9. Lastly, I used a few Mainstay Refrigerator baskets from Walmart (pictured below) to organized my fridge. They were rather inexpensive at $2.97 a basket. I have a rather small fridge so I was only able use 5 of the baskets. For my family I chose to designate two baskets for each of my daughters. For my youngest her yogurts and fruits go into her basket. For my oldest daughter all of the stuff she packs for lunch goes into one basket. I used two baskets at the bottom of my fridge for fruits and veggies as we always have a TON of those in the fridge. The possibilities are really endless for this and you will end up doing what works best for you family.

Enjoy your extra clean and organized fridge :)