52 Weeks to a More Organized Home | #9 The Fridge & Freezer

Welcome!  I have decided that 2016 is my year to get my house in order for real.  I’ve created a week-by-week guide focusing on one area at a time.  Yes, I realize a year is a long time.  But I believe it’s the time line needed to make the thorough and permanent changes.  No more surface organizing – we’re getting down and dirty! So let’s get started!  Each week we will have an assignment, an area of the home to clean up, clean out and organize.  And since cluttered homes are harder to keep organized, there will be an additional challenge each week to help you purge items from your home!

52 Weeks to a More Organized Home | #9 The Fridge & Freezer

52weeks_fridge

It’s time!  Let’s tackle the fridge and freezer.  Clean out those frostbitten popsicles from last summer and those leftovers from you-can’t-remember-when.  Get the fridge and freezer in order!  

See what’s in your fridge and freezer that needs to be used up.  Get creative with your meal planning this week and try to use up as much stuff as you can.  (March typically has awesome frozen food sales so if you can get your freezer cleared out this week you’ll be ready to stock up!)

Also, be sure to clean the shelves real good.  Take out the fridge drawers and clean them with warm, soapy water.  I even dumped my ice tray and washed it.  The ice starts tasting funny if you don’t clean the tray every now and then.

And check out my #1 Tip for Keeping a Clean Fridge here.

If your fridge always falls into disorganized chaos, you might want to check into a few organizational items like bins, trays and extra shelving to keep things neater.  I have a couple Dollar Tree baskets in mine.  I keep juice boxes in one and bags of cheese in the other to keep these smaller items from getting pushed to the back and forgotten.  I always know they’re in the basket and I can easily find the basket.


How do you keep your fridge neat and organized?

    Your additional challenges this week: 

  • Let’s keep returning things to their places.  Make it a habit this week to grab one thing from a room before you leave that doesn’t belong in that room and either return it where it belongs, trash it, or add it to the donate box.
  • Get the kids to each find TWO things that can go.  Trash or donate.
  • If you’re doing the 2016 Clean Out  Challenge  you should have tossed around 360 items already and you’ll need to toss out about 40 items over this week.
    • Some things to note about the clean out challenge, while 40 items sounds like a lot, it doesn’t mean it has to be 40 things of any great size or value.  Did you find 7 old receipts in your junk drawer?  That’s 7 items you just threw away!  It doesn’t matter how big or small, if it goes, it counts!   I have a notepad on the fridge and put a tally mark for every item I toss so I can keep up with how much I’ve gotten rid of so far! I’m a little behind at only 300 items.

          Are you going to join me in having a more organized home?  Comment below!  Leave your tips, questions and suggestions!  Let us know how your week went.   I’ll be honest, I’m about 40 items behind on my 2,016 Item Clean Out Challenge… Also, tell me about problem areas in your house – everyone’s home is different and I want to make sure we cover all areas during our 52 weeks! Don’t forget to come back next week for a new challenge!

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