Everyone’s fridge needs a good purging every now and again, right? There’s sauces you forgot you had, there’s old pizza you’re not gonna finish at this point, and that milk is starting to look a little...unappealing. But there’s way more advantages to cleaning and organizing your kitchen than just getting rid of some old leftovers: you can actually re-organize and clean your fridge to go green and help your energy bills go down! Here’s a few places to start: Know What To Keep… Now this might sound a little counter-intuitive, but when you start cleaning out your fridge you don’t want to go too crazy. Refrigerators with too much empty space actually have to work harder (since they have more space to cool) which can lead to an increase in your electric bills over time, as well as causing your fridge to work hard and burn out faster. So if you have anything you’re still currently using, or anything you could at least see yourself needing in the near future, it might not hurt to keep it around just to save your fridge the extra effort. ...And What To Move Out Now, this is a little different than throwing things away. There’s actually a lot of foods you don’t need to keep in your fridge, which will help open up a lot of space. Stuff like hot sauce, tomatoes, potatoes, and even ketchup and mustard can keep just fine outside of the fridge, which can open up some space for other things (or just free up the usable space in there). Everything you don’t need to refrigerate can be kept aside on some wire shelving, or you could get some kitchen cabinet organizers to help keep everything tidied up. It’s All About Location Refrigerators are easily affected by being too near a source of heat. If your fridge is too close to a sunny window or a hot stove, it might get overworked and not keep your food as cool. The best location for your fridge is against a north or east wall to avoid sunlight and hot air, the better to keep it from burning out and overworking. Vacuum the Coils The coils, located either behind or under your fridge (depending on what fridge you have) are a natural magnet for dust, pet hair, and the like. Every six-to-eight months, take a vacuum with a long brush attachment to give the coils a good cleaning to help the fridge run more efficiently. Take Your Temperature The optimal temperature range for a fridge is 36°-38℉, and 0° for the freezer. But for every degree below that, the unit consumes 5% more energy, which can start to take its toll on your energy bill. Since built-in thermometers might not always be accurate, buy a fridge thermometer, check it in a few different spots, and make sure the temperature generally reads somewhere in that safety range. With these tips, not only will you have a clean and organized fridge, you’ll have a much greener kitchen overall - not to mention the lowered energy bills!