My Take on an Organized Refrigerator

I have a confession to make. I am not an organized person, but I LOVE to be organized (Love is not a strong enough word here. Seriously.). Yet, organizing overwhelms me and makes my chest heavy. It’s almost like my brain doesn’t work in this way or something. I think this is why I find the grocery store agonizing. I just walk around the aisles totally oblivious as to how they are organized. Anyway, I know my limits now, which is why I couldn’t wait for Cathryn Linn of the Organizing Org. to come help me with my gift closet and refrigerator.

First up is my refrigerator.

First, let’s take a moment and marvel at Cathryn’s masterpiece. How does she do it?!

So, let’s really talk about organized refrigerators. Every time I’d see an organized refrigerator on Pinterest or Instagram, I would wonder if there was any true benefit to having an organized fridge. I guess I had questions about the practicality of it, so here’s my take after living with an organized refrigerator for the last month.

Q: Is it annoying to unpackage items to put them in the bins (ie cans, fruit, eggs, popsicles)?

• A: As my friend pointed out, you either have to deal with the box when you’re done with it, or you can deal with the box on the front end. Getting rid of the box makes the items more visible and appealing, so I feel like we eat more of our refrigerated items.

Q: Do the bins become annoying?

• A: It’s annoying when I have too much in the bin, and I can’t fit something else in. BUT it makes me go through the bin and throw out the expired items to make room. This makes my refrigerator stay up to date and more usable.

Q: What if an item doesn’t fit in a bin? What about left over and take out food?

• A: This is my practical, real side- not everything fits in a bin, so you have to have a few spaces without bins. I love my space on the middle tall shelf because I can pile high the items I need to store. Once again, when I don’t have room to stuff anything more, it makes me go through the old items, like the leftovers from a week and a half ago -ha!

Q: Are the labels necessary or just to make everything look pretty?

• A: Originally, we had small labels (from a label maker) on everything. Then Cathryn made these BIG pretty labels, and the BIG labels are a game changer. My husband and kids didn’t know where anything went until the BIG labels were made. You can’t not see the BIG labels, I guess. Hahaha! Now they don’t ask me where things go.

Q: Is it really beneficial to have a clear egg holder?

• A: I found that it is much easier to see how many eggs I have left, but also, I guess I’m just a visual person because when I see the eggs, I think about cooking them. I’ve also started to hard boil eggs for my son as a quick snack, and he can see them in there and grab one more easily. The only thing I haven’t figured out is how to know if they are expired.

Q: Are the green bottles just for the picture? (I may be the only one who wondered this?)

• A: We actually drink a ton of sparkling water. My boy’s favorite drink is half sparkling water, half lemonade. My favorite drink is sparkling water with fresh lime. So, in our case, it’s not just for the picture.

Here’s my take: YES! An organized refrigerator is awesome!! I’m all in!!!

In the end, if I see it, I will use it/eat it (and so does the rest of my family!) Plus, my refrigerator becomes more useable and up to date.

If your brain doesn’t organize very well like mine, hire Cathryn Linn of Organzing Org! If you would like to try it on your own, here are the items she used:

1. InterDesign Egg Holder

2. InterDesign Medium Fridge Bins

3. InterDesign Extra Large Bins

She labeled everything. Here’s a list of my categories:

Refrigerator:

• Meats
• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Coffee (all the fixings)
• Medicine
• Prepared Foods
• Dairy
• Beverages
• Deli Meat
• Cheese
• Eggs
• Spreads
• Bread
• Sauces/Salsas

Freezer:

• Fruit
• Corn Dogs/Powdered Sugar Donuts (hahahaha! I’m just being real here.)
• Rice, Pasta, Bread
• Muffins
• Popsicles and Gogurts
• Snacks/Pizza
• Breakfast

Refrigerator pictures by Traci Ling