Do you feel like you can’t find anything in your refrigerator? Do you find yourself purchasing items you already had without realizing it until you are looking for something else … which went bad? In this blog and in the video below, I show you how to organize your refrigerator by creating zones so that everything is easy to find and put away. That way, you will save money by not purchasing duplicates and by using what you have before it expires.
I’m Terry Elisabeth, author of “How to Organize Any Space in 7 Simplified Steps” where I show you how to organize your spaces according to your personal organizing style so that your spaces can finally stay organized.
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The footage above is a refrigerator transformation for a family of five, including mom, dad, a son in middle school, and two daughters in elementary school. I show you snippets from my impromptu organizing session that ended up becoming a full-on refrigerator and freezer transformation.
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So, this lovely refrigerator is a fridge on top and the bottom half can be adjusted to be all freezer, or half freezer and half refrigerator, or all refrigerator. Since, this family has a standing freezer in the garage, which I show you in another post, they use the bottom left as a small freezer and the bottom right as a small refrigerator. So, in this blog, I show you how I organize the refrigerator on the top and the bottom, right.
Now, this is a busy family as both parents work full time, bring the kids to and from sports and after school activities, and help at church. Dad likes to cook up fancy concoctions as often as he can, and mom has her favorites that she prepares. In between, they both have the more convenient options for days that are extra busy.
So, as I show you the before of this refrigerator in the video, I don’t really get into detail by going into the drawers as, among the busyness of everyday life, things get placed in the refrigerator and freezer wherever they fit. Nothing is in a designated place, so it is quite a hodge-podge mix of items in every nook and cranny. So, it was time to organize this refrigerator and create some zones!
First things first, I cleared the dining table to use it as my sorting surface. If you haven’t grabbed my free organizing guides, don’t forget to do that after reading this blog so that you can know how to get through the sorting stages and get to the final result of an organized space.
I simply pulled everything out of the fridge and placed it on the table. With an empty refrigerator, we now have the opportunity to give it a good cleaning and that’s just what I did. I pulled out every shelf and drawer that was removable and washed it like I would the dishes. However, you never want to wash refrigerator bins and shelves in hot water as they are made of tempered materials which are made to withstand cold temperatures … not hot. So, you want to let them sit at room temperature for bit while you empty the fridge and wash them with dish soap and lukewarm water. Be sure to dry them off well so that you don’t bring too much humidity into the refrigerator.
Before I organized the rest of the items, I pulled out all the raw meats and placed them in the bottom drawer of the bottom half of the refrigerator. When I organize a refrigerator and freezer, I consider the possibility of the power going out and having to salvage what you can. As the food sits and thaws, you don’t want any raw animal product dripping onto the rest of your items. So, I always place raw animal products as close to the bottom of the refrigerator or freezer as possible or within a tray if I can’t (which I will show you in our personal refrigerator and freezer organization eventually).
After I placed the meats back in the fridge, I sorted the rest of the items into categories. Now, because this was an impromptu organizing session and I didn’t have the homeowners next to me, I didn’t throw any of their items away. In your own home, the first thing you will do is discard the expired items. The items were then sorted into general categories of condiments, meats, leftovers, dairy, drinks, fruit, and vegetables.
Here is the fridge all nice and clean. The doors of any fridge are almost always great for condiments especially for this family who has quite a few. So, it’s awesome that this family has several refrigerator door shelves to organize their condiments. What’s also awesome about this fridge is how adjustable it is. You can have the shelf where the milk and creamers are standing to be folded up or down. And you can have the shelf where the bins with the cheeses are sitting to be in or out. That way, you can have taller items in these areas.
As you can see in the video, everything is put away in the fridge in their zones. Of course, we have the condiments in the doors starting with the sandwich condiments at the top left, a few hot sauces among some international sauces in the middle, and Asian condiments at the bottom left.
On the upper most shelves (pictured above), we have the dairy sections with whip cream, milk and creamer. Notice how the milk and creamers are aligned with the open cartons to the front. Obviously, you will use what is expiring first. Then we have sour cream, yogurt, butter and eggs on the upper shelf. And we have a variety of cheeses in bins on the shelf just beneath that.
Directly beneath the bins with the cheeses, we have leftovers and opened products that need to be used up soon. Next to that, we have drinks and just behind are the Parmesan and Sriracha that didn’t fit on the condiment shelves.
In the two crisper drawers below, we have one designated for fruit and in the other drawer we have vegetables. You want to keep fruit separated from vegetables and set each drawer humidity level for fruit or vegetables. Each fridge is designed differently, but they usually have a humidity level guide and nob for each of your crisper drawers.
On the other fridge door, we have the rest of the condiments which are categorized as much as possible and some items are placed wherever they can fit. At the top we have pickled items and salsas, then, in the middle, we have barbecue sauces and dressings, and, on the bottom, some more Asian condiments along with ketchup as those fit perfectly behind.
But we are not finished yet. In the bottom refrigerated portion, we have grain products on the top shelf including bread and tortillas. Then, we have a drawer for cooked meats. And again, in the bottom drawer, we placed the raw meats. In the door, we have some medications and supplements at the top, a few boxed Asian condiments in the middle, and some jars of ingredients to make a Filipino dessert drink called Halo-Halo on the bottom shelf.
Now, we didn’t label anything yet as the homeowner will live with this for a bit and we will revisit this in the future to make any needed adjustments. With everything having a place now, it should be much easier to find things and easier to put everything back where it belongs.
So, there you have it! A complete refrigerator transformation. Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already as I will be showing you the small freezer and the large standing freezer in the next video and don’t forget to grab your free organizing guides here!
Happy Organizing!
Author of “How to Organize Any Space in 7 Simplified Steps“