Keep your cool and clean your fridge with helpful hints

It's National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Week: Do you know where your leftovers are? If they're still in the styrofoam box from last week's Thai food feast, crammed next to a container of unidentifiable brown mush, a bag of limp carrots, and an open can of Coke, you're the perfect candidate for the Whirlpool- and Glad-sponsored festivities. The event's website, www.cleanoutyourfridge .com, offers tips (try marking leftovers with a date and storing food in containers with see-through lids) and statistics (70 percent of Westerners have salsa in their refrigerators; beer is found in almost 43 percent of men's refrigerators). Entering the "Nation's Fullest Fridge Contest" might even win you a new fridge. So fasten a clothespin to your nose and get busy!

KATIE JOHNSTON