Fridge Organization: How to Clean & Declutter Your Fridge

Fridge organization

For me, the thing I could manage was to try to fix one small thing that was really annoying me, which was the fridge.

I could not find things and I could not figure out what to have for meals. 

So I went ahead and started cleaning this whole thing out. I started by just taking everything that was spoiled off of the top shelf. 

I'm going one shelf at a time. That way, if I end up needing to get interrupted or needed to go to bed earlier, then I could just go ahead and put everything back on that shelf and be done instead of having everything out of the fridge. 

So one shelf at a time, taking everything out, wiping it off, throwing out anything that needed throwing out, and sticking it all back inside the fridge on the shelf where it belongs.

Shelf for leftovers

Now, I tried to section off my fridge so the second shelf is always leftovers. That just helps my taller husband to see the leftovers. If I put them down too low, he doesn't find them. Tall guy problems, I guess.  

Prep items

On the next shelf, I saw, I had a lot of things to prepare. I had celery, avocados, lemons, oranges, and so many things. So I took them all out and started chopping them up. Another quick tip I have, for the most part, is if you can, try to put things into clear plastic bags.

If things are in darker bags that you can't see or containers where you can't see into them, they get forgotten. So stick things, whenever you can, into clear containers or opaque containers so you can see what's in them. That way, you'll see exactly what it is, and you can grab it and go.  

Start small 

Now, for this reset, I'm just doing a fridge, but your reset for the next week could be anything you like. You could do a whole room if you feel up to it. But I need to start small. Otherwise, I get discouraged, and I'll get sidetracked and won't get anything done.

If you struggle to know where to start, think of one small change that will take five minutes that will make tomorrow's day easier and start there. 

If you can start in a place of five minutes, then it will push you through and get that motivation up, and eventually, you might be able to do that room, that daunting task that you've been thinking about.

But start small, and that way, you can get that motivation that will snowball and become big enough that you can tackle those bigger projects.  

The finished fridge

Here's my finished fridge organization. As I say, it's not Pinterest-worthy, and it's not minimalized. It's just ready to go for the next week. As you can see, I've got all these fresh fruits and veggies in bags. I squeeze a little bit of that lemon on the avocado to help. It is not brown as much.

And this bottom shelf is something that I need to tackle at some point. You can see all those bottles down there. It's a little bit messy, but it is what we had time for. 

Now at least, I know exactly what's in my fridge, which is more than I can say for a few minutes ago. 

Fridge organization

I hope that you all found my fridge organization project encouraging and motivating. I hope you have something small that you all are able to do as well to help your week go smoother.

What organizing projects are you working on? Share in the comments below.