Project Organize Refrigerator

Today’s project organize refrigerator was inspired by a very recent trip to Dollar Tree and recalling a pin I saw on Pinterest. I know from previous disappointment that if I don’t buy what I see at Dollar Tree, it is gone the next time I stop in. Apparently green is the color that one of the employees mentioned are trending, at least in the organizing product category. Green happened to be the color I was looking for.

When I first purchased the refrigerator a few years ago, I also stopped in Bed, Bath and Beyond for some organizers to start it right. Previous to that, we were using an old college dorm type fridge. That finally gave out and we used nothing for a time. I had saved enough money to buy a new fridge.

All except for 2 of the Bed, Bath and Beyond organizers I purchased didn’t quite fit how we were using the refrigerator, so they had been re-purposed to other areas of the house. What was kept in the refrigerator was the clear lazy susan and packet holder which is in one of the door shelves. Year or two goes by and the refrigerator is a mess with outdated condiments, sticky goo on the glass, items way in the back and not easily accessible. After seeing what was available at Dollar Tree, I came up with my plan for organization. I bought some placemats for the shelves so once they were clean, it would make it much easier to keep clean. In hindsight, I should have measured the glass shelves because the placemats are too long and not wide enough. I might either return them to the store or keep them for use on the dining table. Clear shelf liner cut to size would be best for the glass shelves. I bought two styles of baskets; one that has a handle and one that doesn’t. I have a few baskets left over and those will be used for the freezer.

The handled baskets hold a good quantity of protein drinks for my daughter to drink (she has braces with appliances, so it’s pretty much liquids only – more on that in an upcoming post) as well as pop, water, and more. I’m finding the handle is easy to grab and think it’ll be great to grab breakfast when running out the door to theater rehearsals. The baskets without a handle I’ll be using for fruit and vegetables for my salads, juicing, and smoothies. Not sure if I will keep the water bottles in the basket in the crisper or use that basket in the freezer. I do wish the baskets were a bit longer, but from reading things about refrigerator organization, the items stored should have some space for air circulation for better refrigerator efficiency, so it’ll be fine.

All in all, I think Project Organize Refrigerator came out fine, except for the placemats. Each basket and placemat cost $1.00 so total project was $12.00.