Ask Anna...: Day #3: Organizing the Fridge & Freezer

Today we are going to organize our refrigerators and 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!