Tired of your fridge being a cluttered mess? Not sure where to start? Declutter and organize your refrigerator with these easy organization tips.
Ready to learn how to keep your fridge clean and neat? These organizing tips have helped me keep my fridge organized and neat, just like the pictures in the home lifestyle magazine. In my opinion, these tips are the best way to keep a fridge organized and they’ve helped ME a ton!
I have a confession.
I absolutely love looking at pictures of organized refrigerators.
Just endlessly scrolling through the #fridgeorganization tag on Instagram, amazed at the beauty of it all.
There’s something about seeing an organized fridge that’s just so aesthetically pleasing; the clear food storage containers, mason jars, and baskets all perfectly aligned.
To my surprise, with a few simple tips and tricks, I can make my fridge look just like the picture I’ve been looking at and you can too!
Just by cutting down on the clutter in your fridge and implementing these fridge organization hacks can get you on the right track to creating the organized fridge of your dreams.
How to organize your fridge
Clear everything out
If you want to organize your fridge, then you must clean it first.
Clear out your entire fridge and throw away old, spoiled food. Check the expirations on everything, from ketchup bottles to jars of mayonnaise to boxes of cereal. Check everything thoroughly.
If it’s been sitting in your fridge for months and you haven’t used it yet, then it’s not going to get used so you might as well get rid of it.
While you’re in the process of cleaning out your fridge, Don’t leave perishable items like milk out for long. store them in a cool place until you’re done.
Don’t forget to clean out your freezer as well. The freezer is a major hoarding place for food, so focus on that area.
Wipe down the fridge shelves
Wipe down your shelves refrigerator with a simple, natural cleaner.
Nothing too harsh, but something strong enough to remove any tacked on crud.
My go-to natural cleaner consists of 1 cup of water and a ½ cup of vinegar.
Combine those ingredients into a glass spray bottle, and spray my refrigerator shelves down. Then, I take a microfiber cloth and wipe the refrigerator shelves really good, making sure that I scrub away any dried up spills.
It’s a great idea to clean your refrigerator before organizing so that way you start with a clean slate.
Adjust your fridge shelves
Adjust the shelves in your refrigerator to create the most suitable spacing for all of your food. Simply slide the refrigerator shelves out and place them lower or higher. Remove shelves if you don’t need them.
I like to buy Starbucks frappuccinos in bulk, and store them in the fridge to keep them cold. To accommodate all of the coffee bottles, I moved one of my fridge shelves up so the bottles could fit perfectly on one shelf.
That small adjustment made my fridge look so much better and organized.
Use refrigerator mats
Prevent spills from happening by lining your shelves with water-resistant shelf liners to keep spills from getting all over the fridge and other food items. I recommend these refrigerator mats.
Group similar items together.
The main reason for getting organized is to able to find the items that you’re looking for without having to search for. And, to make things easier to find, it’s a good idea to group similar items together.
Keep condiments like ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise together.
Keep sandwich meats together, and so forth. Group similar items together and Use these clear stackable refrigerator bins to organize the food.
Place frequently used items in the front
One of the most frequently used items in my fridge is milk.
Whenever the kids want to make a bowl of cereal or I’m in the kitchen cooking dinner, we are always grabbing the milk.
But, it’s a big inconvenience if the milk is stored all the way at the back of the fridge.
In order for us to get to the milk, we have to unload everything that’s in front of it, grab the milk, and put everything that we took out the fridge BACK into the fridge.
When you start organizing your fridge make a list of the most commonly used items in your fridge.
Create your organizing plan around that list, and make sure those items get placed in the front of the fridge.
Meat should be stored on the lowest shelf in your fridge
Proper food storage is imperative when it comes to organizing your fridge.
Failing to find the best place to store certain foods in your fridge can result in cross-contamination which leads to food poisoning.
I don’t know about you, but I already have to deal with enough, so I definitely don’t need any more problems.
Store raw meat on the lowest shelf of your refrigerator to avoid contamination.
Place a mat underneath the meat to keep it from leaking down the fridge.
Separate fruits and vegetables
Dedicate one of your refrigerator drawers to vegetables only and the other drawer to fruits only. Never intermix your fresh vegetables with fruits as this could cause the vegetables to spoil faster.
Organize soda cans
A soda can organizer allows you to stack soda cans on top of each other. This will free up a ton of space in your refrigerator.
Take your time
Organizing takes time, trial, and error. If you have to start, stop, and start again, that’s fine!
Keep going until you have your refrigerator neat and organized.
Use the steps above to achieve the organized fridge of your dreams.