You’ve binned the old bananas, the soggy parsley and that half-eaten ready meal with the floppy plastic sheet… but there’s still that horrific smell in your fridge.
Out come the shelves to wipe clean all trace of spilt milk, then the door trays, next a fold of kitchen roll is worked around every corner to catch those stray crumbs of cheese.
And, yet that awful, awful smell remains. Where is it coming from?
Cleaning guru Leanne goes by @cleaningmummy on TikTok posted a video showing how she moved her fridge away from its spot and cleaned out the scent which overtook her home
By removing a tube by the bottom of the fridge, she says: ‘This is more than likely where the smell is coming from’
Despite your best cleaning efforts, the source of the stench could be a little-known compartment located to the back of the fridge.
Cleaning guru Leanne, who goes by @cleaningmummy, has over 755,000 followers thanks to regularly sharing tips and tricks for keeping your home clean.
In a video, which now has 14,000 likes, the TikTok influencer reveals the cause of the issue first-hand after the smell of her ‘smelly fridge’ overtook her entire home.
She unveiled her shock after discovering that behind her fridge was another tray that she could clean out.
She captioned the video clip simply: ‘Did you know there was a fridge tray? How did you find out? When did you last clean it?’
Moving her fridge away from the wall, she begun by saying: ‘Have you got a smell in your house or kitchen or smell that you think is coming from the fridge but you’ve cleaned it, emptied it and can’t get rid of the smell?’
She then shows a compartment towards the bottom of the refrigerator, with a tube attached to it, as she says: ‘This is more than likely where the smell is coming from.
‘There’s a tray at the back of your fridge – pull out your fridge and go to the bottom.
‘There’s a pipe that runs which anything that leaks in the fridge runs down into this tray.
‘You need to clear it out and you can unscrew them and just give them a wash if they’re really bad.’
The mother then proceeds to show how she uses a towel to wipe it clean, before replacing the tube back into it.
Moving her fridge away from the wall, she shows a compartment towards the bottom of the refrigerator
TikTok users have praised the mother for sharing this hack, with many admitting that they never knew about this tray
She also hoovers behind the fridge, making sure that here is no dust or food that has accidentally dropped behind it
Leanne continues to say: ‘If anything gets down there, it will smell disgusting. It will smell your whole house out.
‘And that’s how I even found out there was a tray in the first place.’
For those that have a built-in fridges, the mother clarified that ‘there’s something u can get that goes down from inside the fridge’ which will help you clear it out.
TikTok users have praised the mother for sharing this hack, with many admitting that they never knew about this tray and will be cleaning out their appliance immediately.
One person commented: ‘Oh god, I’ve never done mine, must be awful! Thanks for the great tip.’
And another said: ‘Did not know this.’
While a third commented: ‘Omfg I literally ran to my kitchen pulled the fridge out and found the tray… thank you for sharing this.’
Another questioned: ‘My fridge has been leaking all over the floor for months, does this mean the tray is full??,’ as Leanne replied: ‘Yess check it.’
However, others were well aware of the compartment, as one person put: ‘Yeh I clean it every 6 months , I get alot of fluff cyz I got laminate all downstairs , ppl need check potatoes they stink when rotten in storage area.’
One more said: ‘It’s called the overflow try. And yeah you are right if it doesn’t get cleaned every couple months to a year it will smell.’
While one TikTok user recommended that after clearing out the tray, you can also pop some lemons into your fridge to make it smell better.
They wrote: ‘If it still smells a bit try put some water lemons and garlic in your fridge (not to much).’
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