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"  Just last week The Wall Street Journal published a story detailing peoples&amp;#039; failure to use their refrigerators wisely and keep them clean. In response to the article, my colleagues Carolyn Forte and Paul Hope appeared on NBC to offer some good sound advice on how to use and care for their fridges. I really chuckled over all this as, although I&amp;#039;m definitely not the most fanatical housekeeper, one thing I am conscientious about is my refrigerator. Honestly, I can say that I do throw out leftovers every few days, keep things wrapped tightly, clean up spills promptly, and do a complete cleaning and coil brushing monthly! Yes really I do! And I have to confess, when I stay in someone&amp;#039;s home for a few days to babysit or teensit or help someone recuperate from an illness, one of my secret delights is getting to go through the fridge and toss out all the bits of moldy cheese, mushy lemons, and wilted celery. And while I love the beauty of a well-organized refrigerator, it&amp;#039;s not just a matter of aesthetics. It&amp;#039;s simply not wise to keep perishable items like leftovers, raw meat and poultry, and cold cuts more than a few days. Illness-causing bacteria multiplies the longer the food stays in the refrigerator so resist the urge to keep things just one more day..and no, you can&amp;#039;t tell by sniffing or, perish the thought, tasting. As I&amp;#039;ve often said to my husband, &amp;quot;If you didn&amp;#039;t eat it the day after it was cooked, why do you want to eat it four days later?&amp;quot; I learned an expensive way that the most important thing you can do to keep your unit humming is to clean the coils. Many years ago, I called a serviceperson when the milk turned warm and the ice cream melted, only to have him pull out a cheapo brush from K-Mart and extract so much dog hair from the coils beneath the door that I thought my long-gone Springer Spaniel was going to be reincarnated in front of my eyes! Now I use a similar brush myself to keep my refrigerator working with maximum efficiency. For info on where to store food, check out our advice right here on goodhousekeeping.com. And if you&amp;#039;re in the market for a new model, you&amp;#039;re in luck. Just last fall we completed a review of French Door units from every major manufacturer. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a20674/refrigerator-smarts/>