House cleaning always seem to begin with organization, but who knew that included the refrigerator? Well organized, there will be fewer foods spoiling and fewer what-is-that packages in the back of the shelves.

To organize your refrigerator and keep your food tasty and fresh longer, think of your refrigerator in zones: the doors, the crisper drawers, the lower shelves, and the upper shelves.

Doors are the first zone to consider. Doors often hold things that are used the most, but doors have the most variation in temperature and get much warmer than the rest of the refrigerator. The worst place for milk and eggs is the door. Foods best kept in the door are condiments: ketchup, mustard, salad dressings, and pickles, for example. Iced tea, sodas, bottled water and other non-dairy drinks are handy and safe in the door, also.

Crisper drawers are clearly for fruits and vegetables, but a few tips make them even more useful. Keeping fruits and vegetables in separate drawers will keep your veggies from getting limp or yellow quickly. Fruits emit a gas that helps them ripen, which we like. That's why we put avocados together in a paper bag for a few days. But, that gas ages vegetables too quickly, producing limp lettuce and floppy celery.

Lower shelves are the place for your milk, other dairy items, and eggs. This is the coldest area of your refrigerator. This is, also the place for uncooked meat or fish. Be sure thawed meat or fish is well wrapped and on dish or tray. This way any leaks are so much easier to clean up than cleaning the refrigerator shelf. With meat, cleanliness is safety.

Upper shelves are great for foods that don't need to be cooked. The temperature is not as cold as the lower shelves. Leftovers, lunch meat, deli salads, and other ready-to-eat foods are possibilities. Canned or bottled drinks can, also, be kept on upper shelves.

Contact us for help with this or any other house cleaning task.