Today we are going to work on refrigerator organization, as well as the freezers! This is a project that I tackled this time last year and it has changed my life for the better! It has made finding things in the fridge/freezer easier, it makes unloading the groceries easier and it makes it easier to clean out the fridge every week! All around it has just made my life easier and everyday {I’m not kidding} I think to myself, “I’m so glad I organized this fridge. Why didn’t I do it years ago?”
So are you ready to organize your fridge and freezer? Here we go…
First you will need some baskets and a label maker. Using baskets to organize the fridge and freezer makes it easier to get items in and out. So before starting this task gather baskets from around your house or purchase some. These baskets were on sale at Wal*Mart, 3 for $3. The Dollar Tree and Big Lots also have great baskets.
Step 1: Take everything out. (I did it one shelf at a time).
Step 2: Clean. Wipe down all of the shelves and every nook and cranny. It always blows my mind how dirty the fridge gets, where do all those crumbs come from!?
Step 3: Organize. Before putting things back into the fridge organize them into categories and then put them into baskets. My baskets include Malea’s breakfast, Malea’s lunch, Dinner ingredients, Pizza makings, etc. Yes, “Pizza Makings” is actually one of my baskets. We have a weekly, Sunday night, tradition of making pizza and watching the Amazing Race. So we always have pepperoni, cheese, yeast and cornmeal in the fridge.
Organizing them into categories like this will make it really easy to access anything you need. If similar items are stored together then you just have to pull the basket out rather than searching through the entire fridge looking for something.
After organizing and replacing my items I pulled out my new label maker and went to town! I labeled everything so that my husband would know exactly where to find everything. {He tends to think that organizing makes life more confusing sometimes–he’s weird.} Now that everything is labeled it’s easy for anyone to find what they are looking for!
Now move onto the freezer. Follow these same steps to organize your freezer, yep, even using the baskets! My freezer is full of baskets and it makes accessing meats, Malea’s food, frozen fruits, baking items, etc. so much easier!
Here are the before and afters for my refrigerator
And here are the before and afters of my freezer
I can’t wait to see the before and afters of your fridge and freezer!!!
Here’s a cleaning tip:
To keep your fridge looking clean and tidy start a habit of cleaning it out every week on Trash Day. Before you, or your hubby, put the trash on the curb, look through the fridge and see if there’s anything that needs to be tossed. This is the perfect time to get rid of leftovers, rotting fruit & veggies, expired salad dressing, etc. If you take 2 minutes to do this once a week your fridge will always look clean and organized!
You can find the full list of the 14 Day Challenge HERE!
Looks great – but the top shelf is NOT the place to store milk. It’s warmer up there. Milk and meats should always be store on lower shelves to stay fresh.
SUPER excited about your website. I have wanted to organize my fridge for awhile now..and have it some what done..however, when looking at other people’s cleaning sites..everyone always have different refridgerators. So what typically may work for them won’t work for us…You have the same fridge as me though. So I can at least see kinda how you organize your’s and then apply it to our stuff. AMAZING site. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
Thank you so much Crystal!! Have fun organizing your fridge! 🙂
This is one of the best sites I’ve come across! I have a problem with my refrigerator shelves: the shelves in the door have all broken off, and replacing them is expensive.
Any ideas for good inexpensive shelves? I’ve thought of expandable curtain rods, but haven’t tried it yet.
Thank you.
I would purchase some inexpensive clear plastic containers and mount them on the door with Scotch foam mounting tape, it holds everything! Here’s a link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003W0R4PE/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003W0R4PE&linkCode=as2&tag=askan01-20
Just took gave my fridge a clean. It was kind of gross. Now I feel like I have a new refrigerator. Buying baskets this weekend. Getting organized.