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Taking Time To Self Reflect
I am not a neat freak by any means.
In fact, I always like to say that I operate under a constant “organized mess”. As in, it may seem chaotic to you, but I can tell you where everything is.
Need the nail clipper? I tossed it in the third basket to the left of the sink. Can’t find your laptop charger? It’s under the bed plugged into the second closest outlet in our bedroom.
BUT, when it comes to my refrigerator, there are a lot of nooks and crannies that things can get lost in.
As a result, I found myself wasting more food than I am proud to admit. There was no system in place, nothing prepped in advance, and it felt like everything was expiring just as I found it.
Why Did I Decide To Reorganize My Refrigerator?
I can not even begin to tell you how many times I would buy something because I thought we were out, only to find it RIGHT after I came home from the grocery store. It was super frustrating!
It also weirdly caused a lot of tension in my marriage. My husband has a big thing about wasting food, so every time something would spoil because I didn’t cook it in time (because I didn’t see it or prep it), he’d get really upset at me.
And because I am the only one working right now in my family, I knew that something had to change. If I didn’t get organized soon, I was going to lose out on a lot of money. I mean, I was already losing money.
My Game Plan
So this week I went on Amazon and ordered some containers. Now that I am trying to grow on tiktok, I also went there to get some inspiration as well.
My strategy went a little bit like this:
Step 1: Design Your Ideal Space
I’ve had my fridge for about two years now, so I kind of knew exactly how much I could fit and where it would fit best.
If you’re great at free hand drawing, this would be a fantastic opportunity to utilize this skill. Since I absolutely stink at it, I just did a quick sketch.
Quick Note: when designing your space, always make sure to consider what makes the most sense in terms of food safety. I suggest storing meat and dairy towards the bottom of your refrigerator.
The bottom of your fridge is often the coldest part of your fridge which helps your product last longer. The sides of your door will vary greatly in terms of temperature, so you’ll want to store mostly drinks or sauces in those compartments.
For produce, fruits do better in low humidity, and vegetables do better in high humidity. Since I only have one drawer for produce, I decided to dedicate my bottom shelf to my fruits, and my drawers for vegetables.
But, I ended up buying way more fruits than veggies, so the veggies will just have to share their space.
Step 2: Discard Everything That Is Old/Expired
Cooking with a lot of sauces is really yummy but certainly created quite a bit of clutter in my small fridge. I had to go through all of them and check the expiration dates, and was saddened to see so many had expired.
If I used the sauce often, I would put it on my shopping list. But, if I hadn’t used it in a while, I would leave it off and wait to purchase it when I actually need it.
Step 3: Go shopping
Now that I had my space thought out and thrown out everything I needed to, it was time to go shopping
.
I started on Amazon and purchased a few containers to hold my produce, eggs and sodas. These are the ones that I purchased.
Then, I went food shopping for the week. I figured that the best time to clean my fridge and organize it was when it was fully stocked. That way, I could put my system to the test and see if it actually works or if it needs to be tweaked in any way.
Step 4: Take Everything Out And Group Similar Items Together
Because I just went grocery shopping, this step was pretty easy. Other than the sauces and some staple items like eggs and cheese, I really didn’t have too much in there.
Part of the reason so many things kept going to waste was because I never had designated spaces for things. Yes, I had a cheese drawer and produce drawer. But sometimes you would find the cheese in the produce drawer, or the fruit in the cheese drawer.
My leftovers, prepped foods and staples would also switch places frequently. I would shove the eggs to the back of the fridge to make room, and then forget that they were there and buy more eggs.
If I have designated places to put leftovers and eggs and lay them out so that I can see both, I’ll never have to wonder if I have that particular item.
Step 5: Clean Your Space
I thought I just had to give my space a good wipe down. However, after removing everything I realized I was very mistaken.
I like being transparent and honest with my readers so I’m just going to come out and say it. My fridge was DIRTY. Like, insanely gross. It had chicken juice on the bottom shelf, parmesan EVERYWHERE, remnants of sauce, you name it.
So I took out the drawers and submerged them under soap and hot water. Then I went heavy on the cleaner for the inside shelves of the fridge. I made a simple solution of water, dish soap, vinegar, and essential oils. That seemed to get everything off pretty well.
Step 6: Prep Your Food
Washing and cutting your fruits and vegetables ahead of time can increase the likelihood that you’ll reach for them.
This is similar to your meal prepped items and leftovers. Keeping them at eye level is a great visual reminder that you need to eat those items because they spoil faster than items you haven’t prepared.
Step 7: Load everything in!
The last step is to load everything into your fridge, step back, and admire all your hard work!
Conclusion
If you’re on the fence about giving your fridge a makeover, let me be the first to tell you to GO FOR IT!
While this was definitely a time consuming project, I really feel like it has changed my entire routine.
I no longer have to rummage through the mess to find what I’m looking for. I’m also finding that I have to throw out less food.
The best change that I’m seeing is that my fruit and vegetable consumption has gone up tremendously. And with the pre-cut vegetables, I’m able to come home and make dinner in half the time it used to take me.
I hope you found this post helpful and if you’re interested in more organization posts please let me know in the comments below!
NOW I’D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
What is one area of your home that you’ve organized that’s been a game changer?
Are you thinking about reorganizing an area, but just don’t know where to start?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
