Clean Your Refrigerator To Save Energy

Cleaning the refrigerator is as important as cleaning the rest of the appliances at home. Actually, it should be more often be cleaned than any other appliance. Why? Because it’s the most used appliance at home, it runs 24 hours a day, and most of us can’t live without it. It’s too important for us that it’s worth the attention.

How often should refrigerators be cleaned?

At least once every 3 months (the laziest you can do), refrigerators should be completely cleaned and organized. But the handle should always be disinfected at least once every two days (wipe the handle with wet cloth with a little soap).

Clean refrigerator walls using soft rug, wet it and put a little dishwashing liquid to help remove dirt and oils.

A clean and organized refrigerator saves energy

1. It’s easier to find what you need when food ingredients and medicine bottles are sorted and placed together. This way, you don’t need to open the refrigerator for too long before you get what you need.
2. Cleaning up means throwing away stuff which you don’t actually need. This frees up space inside the ref and the less you have inside the ref, the better the circulation. But don’t empty your ref totally. Put in some jars of water to retain cold temperature even when you open it.
3. Don’t forget cleaning the condenser coils at the back of the ref. They get warmed up when the refrigerator is loaded. Have you tried drying up your shoes at the back of your refrigerator? That’s how warm they can get when dust accumulates in there.
4. Cleaning up the outer and inner walls, the drips and stains, as often as possible will make the dirt easier to clean than when you let them dry up.
5. Check the labels of your food and medicine for expiry dates and throw away those you can’t use anymore. It will save you time and money to know what you have in your inventory and avoid buying excess or duplicates.
6. Fruits and vegetables stay fresh longer when the vegetable shelf or crisper functions well.
7. If you have a manual frost refrigerator, don’t let the ice build up to no more than 1/4 inch to keep the temperature inside the freezer to the optimum.
8. Even if you use a no-frost ref, you still have to keep the ice in check. Ice still builds up inside the freezer, specially if your ref is already two years old in use, or older.

Wipe and remove drippings from medicine bottles

Check the vegetables and food ingredients which you were not able to use within the week, and throw away the stuff you don’t need anymore. Freeing up space will easen up the load of your refrigerator.

Frost or no-frost your freezer needs to be defrosted from time to time

The usual life expectancy of a refrigerator is between 14-17 years and yours can reach this age easily by following your schedule in cleaning and organizing it.

Hope you liked the reminder and these quick tips. If you have more to add, feel free to share!