In my ideal, organized world, the refrigerator is diligently cleaned out every Monday because Tuesday is trash day.  It’s clean and shiny and free of outdated papers on the front and science projects on the inside.  Doesn’t that sound nice?   However, I am usually tossing the science experiments into the trash on Tuesday as I hear the trash truck go roaring down the road. Take a look inside the reality of our refrigerator:

There might be something yummy in there but who could find it?

Close up of the mess!

There’s no closing the door on this disorganization.

There had to be a better way!  So yesterday, I took on the task of organizing my refrigerator. Although the plan was simply to organize, I did go ahead and take the time to wash the shelves as I went.  It turns out our refrigerator comes apart for cleaning and the shelves are adjustable!  I did have an extra piece once I put the refrigerator back together.  

Oops!

I also applied this nifty trick  found on Pinterest without the same lovely results but hey, when I open the refrigerator, I’m looking at the food not the decor!  I’ve seen lots of pictures of organized refrigerators with the clear bins marked with labels but I knew myself (and my family) well enough to know that would probably work for perhaps a day before disorganization took over again.  I wanted something with more visual impact but also something that would make getting the food in and out easier.  I purchased the green container at Dollar Tree for a different purpose that didn’t pan out but it found a new home in the refrigerator:

It now holds all our most used condiments and we can simply grab it as needed.

 I found a 3 pack of open white stacking bins at Walmart for about  five dollars and they served my purposes well:

I was able to fit all our flour and sugar in this one and slide it to the back!

The sugar/flour bin is now behind the one holding the strawberries.

The third bin will hold string cheese and deli items

The door wasn’t hard to organize once I figured out the inside.  It was simply a matter of grouping like items (note to self:  Do NOT open any more BBQ sauce!).   I took these pictures this morning (in the course of my project, we ran out of milk, left the open butter out too long, and my husband purchased a 2 liter of soda for his lunches):

Completed project! I’m hoping it holds up to a grocery store trip. I’ll keep you posted!

What if any systems do you use for keeping your refrigerator organized?

Posted by Jean in Uncategorized