Organizing Your Home: the refrigerator

Last week, I gave you a glimpse at my pantry and how I organize it. As we continue on our journey to a more organized home and more intentional homemaking, let's talk about your refrigerator this week!

We live in a condo and I think our refrigerator is probably a little smaller than average, but it provides plenty of space for us. Don't get me started on the freezer, though - we'll save that for next week! Here's a few thoughts for keeping your refrigerator organized:

Group like items together. I try to keep all of our leftovers together (on the bottom shelf). I keep most of the beverages in the same area. This make it much easier to find items in the refrigerator!


Utilize the drawers. I keep all of our cheese in the drawer towards the top. I use the bottom drawers for fruits, vegetables, and tortillas. It's important not to forget what's in the drawers, though!

Use the space in the door wisely. I keep all of our bottles in the door. I also put all of my husband's yogurt cups in the door. There's some taller space in the door, too, which works nicely for additional beverages. One of my goals is to never have any more bottles of "stuff" than what fits in the door!

Clean it out regularly! This is so important! Every time you take out the trash, check the refrigerator. For me, that's about every 7-9 days. In the meantime, though, keep an eye on what's in the refrigerator so that you can attempt to use all your food before it spoils.

People (i.e., my mother in law!) are generally surprised at how empty our refrigerator always is. We are fairly minimal when it comes to shopping, as has been evidenced in my "pantry." I don't overstock on items - you only get two choices for salad dressing at my house!

While this approach may not work for everyone, it certainly works for us. Lest you think we never eat, just wait for next week when I show you a picture of my freezer!

As you focus on becoming more intentional in your homemaking, having a more organized refrigerator will contribute to that. Opening up a messy and jam-packed refrigerator doesn't make you feel like cooking, does it?

Spend 15 minutes today organizing your refrigerator. Is there any expired food in there? What can use up in creative ways this week? How can you reorganize your refrigerator to better fit your needs?