The other day, I spotted a sticky spill on the fridge shelf. Not just a little smudge. This had clearly been there for a while. It was practically baked on, the kind of grime that refuses to budge unless you commit.
So I did.
I took the entire shelf out, scrubbed it in the sink, and gave it a proper clean. It was unexpectedly satisfying. Like, deeply satisfying.
The next morning, I found myself suddenly and irreversibly pulled into a mission: deep-clean the whole fridge. One shelf at a time, fully removed and scrubbed down. I discovered tiny crumbs and mysterious sticky spots living in crevices that had likely gone untouched for years. My inner clean freak was thriving.
But right in the middle of my groove, our Costco delivery arrived. My husband, arms full of bulk yogurt and frozen vegetables, watched in mild disbelief as I disassembled the fridge. “Now?” he asked, annoyed, and clearly wondering why I had chosen this exact moment to go full Monica. When the iron strikes hot, you gotta do it.
I asked him to hold the groceries for 15 minutes. He did. I scrubbed. It was glorious.
Here’s the thing:
This fridge definitely needed to be cleaned months ago. And every time I felt the urge, I’d think, there’s too much stuff in there. I’ll wait until it empties out. But the fridge never really empties out, does it?
Sometimes, when the energy hits, you just have to go with it. There’s no perfect moment. No ideal conditions. There’s just that inner nudge. And if you wait, it’ll pass.
So next time you feel the pull to clean something, write something, fix something, start something… don’t save it for later.
Just do it. (Thanks, Nike.)
With love,
Maria