When it comes organizing my kitchen, it’s not about perfect order…although I’m guessing you guys know that by now. Rather, my intent is to make my time in the kitchen more efficient and make my kids more independent when they use it. One way I do this is through my super-easy fridge organizing.

When I created this system my goal was to make it easier for my kids to find and put away stuff in the fridge. Consequently, I tried to keep the system as 4-year-old-friendly as possible. To help my kids deal with condiments and other items that hang out in our door shelves, I used a simple number system. First, I numbered the lower condiment shelves with my little Dymo Label Maker ($17). Then, I grabbed a black sharpie from my junk drawer and wrote a number on each item. Generally, condiments went in shelf number one…salad dressings in shelf number two.

I’ve also got two lazy susans in my fridge (click here to read that post). These hold other condiment type products. The one on the top shelf holds all my sauce and marinades, the one on the lower shelf holds things like jams and spreads. To help keep these things where they belong, I used my sharpie again to add a ‘U’ for upper and a ‘L’ for lower on the lids of all those items. Since I had my label maker handy, I made a few simple labels for the drawers as well. I dedicated one drawer to snacks, one to produce, and one to deli.

See? I told you it was easy. Now, you could go a little crazy and label all of your shelves; creating a dedicated spot for your leftovers, eggs, yogurt and such, but I don’t advise it. Too much organization can be hard to keep up with and can overwhelm your family. My advice? Spend your time organizing only the items that tend to hang out in your fridge for more than a week or two. Once you’ve got those staples in order, the rest will kind of organize itself…or get eaten…whichever comes first. Give it a try, you’ll be amazed at the difference. Just thought I’d pass it on.

If you liked this post, you may want to check out my simple spice solution and my $30 pantry makeover.

Share This