Refrigerator Organization

As part of this organizational series I called in reinforcements. :) My friend Brittany has always been an inspiration to me in the art of having an organized home/life. I asked her to pick one thing she feels like she has a good organizational system for and to share her secrets. She also happens to be pregnant with her second baby and any of you who have been pregnant know how your nesting mode can kick in full force near the end! So, guest posting for me today is Brittany. Here's what she has to say about refrigerator organization: 

I was asked by Jessi to write a little piece on organization and it actually worked out perfectly because I have been going on an organization frenzy and I am going to blame it on my nesting!  I have a feeling as soon as April 5^th comes around I am going to be very thankful that I did!  One thing in my house that I did not need to organize was my refrigerator, for some reason I have always been very particular on the way my fridge is, and I think it is because I hate wasting food!  If my fridge is in order it’s less likely I am going to forget leftovers or let something spoil.  

The way I organize my fridge is quite simple but it works and makes it a lot easier to find things. 

• On my top shelf I keep leftovers, this makes packing lunches so easy.  I usually keep the leftovers that need used closer to the front.  (I know some people will label when each leftover is from so it does not spoil, but we do a good job at finishing up leftovers.)
• On the second shelf I keep our drinks and our lunch bags.
• The third shelf is actually a drawer which is where I keep our cheese, yogurt, wraps and prepackaged meat.  I am not a big lunch meat fan but I do keep turkey bacon and Perdue chicken cutlets in this drawer.

• On the fourth shelf I keep the things I am making for dinner that week, ie packaged meat that needs to defrost, as well as our egg container.  In this picture I had premade our meal just so I can throw it in the oven when we are ready to eat!
• The fifth shelf is the vegetable drawer; of course this is where I keep the vegetables.  I usually clean my vegetables before I put them away in their own containers.  This makes it easy for snacking on healthy treats as well preparing salads for my lunches.  
• The sixth shelf is the fruit drawer; and of course this is where I keep my fruit!  Just like my vegetables I will clean my fruit and put them in their own containers ( besides oranges, grapefruit and apples, I will keep them in their whole form)

On the inside of the door is where I keep my condiments and salad dressings.  I have a shelf for each item as well so it’s a little easier to find things. 

• On the top shelf I keep the small packaged condiments for lunches, cream cheese, butter and “sour cream”, which we use plain greek yogurt.
• The second shelf is where I keep the salad dressings/ toppings (olives, pickles, mandarin oranges etc.)
• The third shelf is for condiments 
• The fourth is for more condiments and apple sauce
• The fifth is for water bottles

The last thing is keeping my fridge clean… I will usually clean the shelves and drawers every two weeks when it’s time to go to the grocery store and things are pretty empty.  I just use some antibacterial Clorox wipes. 

Like I said this is a fairly easy task to keep things organized and I think that’s why it’s one of the only things in my home that stays that way!  Hopefully this might help you to organize your refrigerator which could in turn help you from wasting food and save you some time in preparing dinners or packing lunches!  

(Update!!!! Brittany had her baby boy yesterday!!)