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Homemaking Pains: Cleaning Out the Fridge
I hate it…you hate…we all hate cleaning out the fridge. Why? Other than the fact that it feels gross to rummage through old food and yucky spills, it is a thankless job. Growing up I remember always having a clean fridge, because if something spilled call mom. If something stunk call mom. If it was just cluttered and out of order – call mom. Many a Saturday morning I would watch her take every thing out of the fridge, wipe down the insides, wipe down all the jars, and then clean the trays and bins in the sink. I never thought much of it other than
Ohhh…goody! We still have some of that spaghetti left over.
I would take a quick survey of what she had pulled out and make mental notes on what I wanted to eat. That was my extent of coming near the dirty fridge tidying. Never any thank-yous nor apologies for making it messy again. Oh – how I miss my youth.
Fast forward to today – Chris and I have a small fridge. Well, maybe not small – it’s European. Out kitchen is tiny, although grand…I even have a crystal chandelier in there. When I was redesigning the space the thing I noticed that was most eating up the space was the fridge. So I vowed to find a smaller one that could be built into the wall.My expectation was that a smaller fridge would be less work to maintain – I was wrong.
It still gets dirty like a double wide Sub-Zero. From spilled jars, to sticky stuff on the veggie bin, to gross left-overs in back of the fridge pergatory – I am often left wondering,
How can you forget something in a refrigerator that is nearly half the size of a regular one?
Many times find myself waiting for someone to clean it out. I live in a two person household and although I know Chris never would, my mind doesn’t always compute that.
Man this fridge needs to be cleaned out.
Yeah it does.
So are you going to do it now?
Who? Me?
No the maid standing behind you?
Oh – OK. I guess I’ll clean it out.
This conversation has happened more than once in our our short life together. We will both agree that someone needs to do something about it and I will look innocently around as if that person will appear at any moment. To my chagrin she never does and I become the thankless refrigerator cleaner of the house.
So there I stand – the funkbox staring back at me. I slide on my gloves, hold my breath and go in for the kill. I’m okay with wiping the helves down and washing the fridge. It’s the old food that I can’t stand. I never know what I will get when I unwrap the foil or pop open the tupperware. Three questions always run through my mind:
Will this stink?
Will it be moldy?
Will I gag?
When I get a good one – one that doesn’t fit the above criteria – I am relieved. But when the bad ones comes I get a wave of the serious “nasties”. You know – when something is so nasty you shiver. I quickly throw it in the sink, turn on the hot water and hit the garbage disposal. Before I had a garbage disposal installed Chris used to dump this stuff it in the toilet – I would be so grossed out I would squat…not sit…on my own toilet. Actually… come to think of it he still does that.
As I let the hot water eat away at the food – avoiding the steam backfire – I can’t help but think of my mom. She would be so pleased with me. Not because I am cleaning the fridge, but because I do it without complaining – although hesitantly. She used to tell me,
You’re going to have to get used to doing this stuff. Nobody else will do it when you get married.
Wow! She was right. I am the official “refrigerator cleaner”. It’s a job I never would have imagined would be part of my biography growing up. It’s amazing the number of things we take for granted as kids. Now that I have stepped into those shoes, I realize that this is it. No maid, no one to do it for me – If I don’t do it then it won’t get done. I guess it’s one of the many jobs that a homemaker, wife, mom and woman takes on.
You don’t always get applause. You don’t always love what you do. But you love the people are around you. You love the life and home you have built together. So you learn to love to take care of it all. Even if it is a lousy…and stinky…refrigerator.
What’s your thankless job around the house? (probably too many to count…lol)
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10 Responses
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…I can’t really sat I have a thankless job, but what I hate to clean just as much as you hate cleaning the fridge (or maybe even more) is cleaning the bathroom – I don’t know why. Everytime that chore comes around I kick and scream like a child until my husband gives up and does it himself, lol. That’s one of the benefits of marrying my husband (who is a neatfreak), he doesn’t like asking for something to get done more than once, so he gets fed up and takes care of it…but then he won’t talk to me for a while, lol. But hey, I’d rather have quiet time than cleaning the bathroom lol
Haha! My husband cleans the bathroom too. I hate cleaning it…in fact I loathe all cleaning except making the bed. If the bed is a mess I can’t even get into it. Go figure!
You just had me dying with laughter.
I despise cleaning the fridge too, but I’ll tell you what if I even THINK somethings going to smell its headed to the trash, container and all. My mom used to always wonder what was happening to her Tupperware. Now my husbands always thinking the same thing. Him: “Hey have you seen my lunch bowl???” Me… “Umm nope. But we should get some new ones anyway” while I walk away guilty as charged avoiding eye contact! i just cant do stinky smells. They scare me! and I’m such a punk!
I think I am about to break a hip laughing at you! LOL I have so done that before. In fact prior to marriage that was my response..but now my husband looks in the trash :-/ He is so nosey. But sometimes I still sneak one out.
I just had to do the deed today.
My husband is the one who takes out the trash in the house. Well I always thought that taking out the trash also entailed cleaning out the refrigerator once a week on trash day. That is what I have done for years as a single girl. My husband didn’t seem to think so. Me throwing subtle hints like “Wow we really need to clean the fridge out on trash day” didn’t work either. (Noticed I used “we” not “you’). So it has fallen to me to do it every week. (I thought that was one job that I could give up when I became married, but I thought WRONG! My consolation is that my husband took over cleaning the bathrooms. The thought of bending down to clean near the toilet truly bothers me in the worst way.
However, I finally convinced him that a cleaning service was in order given our busy schedules. But alas they don’t clean out the fridge
Ha! That makes three of us lucky wives whose husbands clean the bathroom. I can’t believe the cleaning people won’t do the fridge. I guess they won’t know what is old or new. It seems like a common thing that men avoid the refrigerator cleaning…unless he is the family cook. I guess it seems like womanly work…I don’t know why becasue they are the ones who eat the most!
This was fun to read…
I clean both: The frig. & the bathroom. I saw my husband’s frig. & bathroom when we dated & oh boy I knew those jobs (cleaning the frig & bathroom) were going to be mine. He even told me then not to go in the frig. So, I honored that for about a month & then I just opened the frig and saw … let’s just say it was a hot mess. So before we got married, the Lord told me way in advance to hone my cleaning skills. Actually, I take pride in cleaning them bcs I love walking into a clean bathroom. I even buy special products for the bathroom/kitchen to inspire & motivate me to clean (this works most of the time). I never heard my husband say thank you for cleaning the bathroom/frig., but I’m cleaning them for myself as well. It’s one of those things where you’re working or should I say cleaning as unto the Lord & He honors you for it. On the flip side, hubby does the laundry, thank God!
By the way, my husband does the toilet thing too!
Its funny that you mentioned getting specific products for the job. I find that motivates me as well. Especially when its a cleaning gadget. I love cleaning gadgets, but the love stops once I get the gadget dirty. I know I have no shame. btw the toilet is the only thing I don’t mind cleaning…just because I don’t think Chris would get into the crevasses like I do
Excellent way to teach people some cleaning i guess. U kept it simple and funny too. Really impressive. Keep going. Thanks
Regards
Richard