Project Simplify #4- The Food!

This week's challenge over at Simple Mom was to clean out the pantry and the fridge.
I mean seriously. Is this woman looking in my windows?
I am constantly amazed at how each week she suggests just where I need to clean next.
So here the "before's" of the pantry and spice areas....

Everything mainly needed to be wiped down and organized. Thankfully I didn't have too much to throw away. But I did create enough room just in time for me to splurge on some awesome spices at a Wild Tree party I attended Wednesday night. Here are the results...

Beautiful! Now my next task was to clean out the fridge...

I knew that we did not have any "science experiments" growing, since I always cook from whats on hand first before going to the store, and I had given the areas a good wipe down a few weeks ago. What I didn't expect was the dirt I found in the nooks and crannies of the fridge. I swear there is just too much opportunity there for spilled stuff to gather and hide and get just plain gross.
To add to the work, apparently our land lord was afraid we would run off with the shelves and installed some anti-theft clips in there so I could not remove the shelves to clean them. I'm only slightly joking. I'm sure they are there for a reason, but shy of taking a hammer and screwdriver to them I could not get those shelves out. So that meant more time scrubbing at odd angles (because all the spills hang out and fester in the back right?) with an old toothbrush in front of a cold refrigerator. And while the calendar says Spring, we just got more snow here yesterday so it's flippin' COLD!
In the end, the vessel that hold my family's nutrition is sparkling!

Now I shouldn't have to scrub so hard in a few weeks when we move out. YAY!
Don't forget to go check out how everyone else is doing with their Project Simplify!