Day Seven :: Get Your Home Decluttered in 28 Days

(Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/Getty Images)

 

Today let’s work on our fridges!  Yay!  No?  I get it but you will be sighing a big Ahhh after you finish clearing it out.  I don’t know if you can hear my sigh of relief but I have been saying it all morning – and even inspected my “new” and clean fridge a couple times!   One of things the declutter experts say is don’t go out and buy containers, organizers, etc., until you have cleared away most of the clutter.  That way, once things have been cleared out, donated, given away, or sold, you will know what you really need and don’t have extra clutter in your house in the form of containers.  But there are a couple things I would recommend to get for your fridge once it is cleared out and organized.  But first, let’s start getting rid of things that are no longer edible and organize it.  I promise though you might be cursing my name in the process – you will be happy once it is all done!  Promise!

 

 

Step One:  Take out all the food.  Yep.  All the food in your fridge.  I would recommend to start arranging it in categories just so it is easier once you put things back in.  Things like condiments go in one area on your counter, vegetables on another section, etc.  But this step isn’t totally necessary – just might make it easier on you later on.

 

 

Step Two:  Once all the food is out of your fridge and you have thrown away food that is no longer edible, take out the shelves and vegetable and the meat drawers.  Now give it a good cleaning.  Top to bottom.  I just used hot water, soap and after it was all cleaned out – one (or two) last swipes with the Ammonia-free glass cleaner.  This gave the inside of the fridge an extra shine.  And make sure to enjoy a nice beverage while you are cleaning out the fridge – this is hard work ladies!  I enjoyed a coconut water that I found at the back of our fridge that got lost in the clutter!  Yum!

 

 

Step Three:  Put away your food in categories.  We put the condiments and foods we eat frequently (think peanut butter and jelly) into this plastic bin that you can find at any container store.  It has little wheels on it in the back so it makes it easier to move out when you need it.  Next we put things we use – but not as often on this circular Lazy Susan shelving unit that you can also purchase for less than $5.00 I believe at any container store.  These two items have been really useful in keeping things organized in our fridge.  Plus, the more you organize your food – the less likely you will waste it because you lost track of it.  We have probably all done this – but part of de-cluttering our homes (and fridge) is clearing away what we don’t need and enjoying what we have.

 

 

Step Four:  Have an extra pull-out container for leftovers. I find that if we have one section that leftovers go to – it cuts back on these things getting lost in the fridge.  But don’t get me wrong – when I cleaned out our fridge today I found some rather interesting things – like a plastic water bottle that my daughter filled with milk – only to be left for who knows how long because I didn’t’ see it!  But the most interesting thing was finding a ladybug in our vegetable tray.  Apparently he took a trip on some vegetables we bought the other day.  If you put live (contained) ladybugs in the fridge they fall asleep (I know this from when we used them to kill some bugs in our backyard and they recommended we place them in the fridge until we were ready to release them).

 

 

Step Five:  Take out perishable fruit (strawberries, grapes, raspberries, etc.) and vegetables from their plastic bags and place the in either glass or plastic containers with lids. For the vegetables, cut them up into ready-to-go slices like carrots and celery in water.  This helps them last longer and  it is easier on the kids to see what there is to eat.  We also placed all of our batteries in a large plastic bag – apparently the batteries last longer if you place them in the fridge.

 

Step Six:  Add in some baking soda containers.  I actually put in three just in case on each shelf.

 

Take it a step further: Get a fun butter dish! Get matching BPA-free containers for a streamlined look (on my wish list).

Tips to Keeping Your Fridge Organized. We try (but don’t always do it) to clean out our fridge the day before trash day.  That way, it is checked once a week for any food that has gone bad and is taken away the next day on trash day.   Now sit back and enjoy your new fridge!

Here are some more ideas for organizing your fridge.     Love this idea from Its An Organized Chaos where she uses place mats on the shelves.  This would make for easy clean up!     Great ideas from First Home Love Life blog!  She organizes her salads so they are ready to go every day!  So organized!  I will aspire to try this!  More ideas here.   Here is some great information about where to store your food items!  

Image found on Pinterest.

Now enjoy your new fridge!

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