Inspired: Organizing Our Fridge

While reminiscing about my homes lack of organization with a friend via Twitter today, I stumbled upon a magical organization blog. I am not kidding. The blog is magical. 

It's called IHeart Organizing and the tips/tricks she gives are nothing short of brilliant. I was so inspired, I decided to tackle our fridge & freezer tonight! Well, after a Shrimp Caesar Salad (my current favorite 5 minute dinner).

Have you even seen our kitchen in this home yet? Rewind. Here you go. (My bad!)

Main prep, cooking and cleaning area. Equipped
with million year old (and perfectly functioning!) stove

Bonus counter space - this is where I do my slow cooking
(as you can see, SuperPot is out)

Le Creuset storage / Butcher block / Hemingway The Cat

Ah. There, now you're all acquainted with my big, happy, open kitchen which is currently decorated to the tastes of a 70 year old woman. I am an old soul, so I feel very at home cooking there. Someday the tacky border will come down and the ivory walls will be replaced with something crisp and modern, but for now I am happy there so it will remain the same.

Now, back to business: The Fridge. We've lived here just shy of a month, so I'm really embarrassed to show you what I'm about to show you. It's taking a lot for me to not escape out of this tab and forget I ever started this post. This. Is. Embarrassing. (Click the photo to view larger. Extra embarrassing)

Ouch.

Yes, that would be piles of food piled in on top of itself. Notice the spinach on the middle shelf, far right. What was I thinking?! Oh yeah, I wasn't.  "Let's see if I can just wedge this in and hope it doesn't fall the next time I open the door..." Sound familiar? I hate it. And I do it. A lot. 

I started by taking EVERYTHING out of the fridge and organizing it in piles. I was inspired to do this by IHeart Organizing's post "Fun in the Fridge". She organized her entire fridge in sections - GENIUS! Now there's no more "Where did you put the butter?" and "Have you seen the leftovers?". They have their own "zone" and that's where they will live now. 

I did find some nasty leftovers. Really nasty leftovers. As in, when I opened it to see what it was, I gagged, slipped and sent it splattering all over the front of my shirt and legs. Oh, and in between my toes. Yeah, that's right. This leftover pile of nasty was IN.BETWEEN.MY.TOES. Want to know what it was? Deer soup. Yep. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit too. 

While I wiped it out from between my toes and scrubbed the floor, I wished that rotten deer smelled like chocolate. 

The rest of the process was a piece of cake. I did have an awakening to how many various pickled vegetables we have...but that story is for another day. Let's just say, they take up 50% of one shelf on their own, and none of them are just plain "pickles". 

Anddddddd the final result (click photos to view larger - way less embarrassing this time!): 

An organized fridge!!

"Oooh. Aaah."

Okay, so without really being here it's tough to see the nitty gritty details, but I'll spell it out for you, left to right by shelf, starting at the top. 

• Main dairy / Leftovers / Important beverages (read: chai & wine)
• Continued leftovers / juice 
• EMPTY! 
• Misc tiny bottles & jars of condiments (mostly mustards. so many mustards) / Pickled veggies. I told you. 

In the door, starting at the top I organized condiments by shelf, according to size/use:

• Milk (skim & whole) & water
• Most popular condiments: Jelly/ Yellow mustard/ ketchup / jalapenos /  etc 
• All other condiments (so many) 

I felt so accomplished after completing the fridge, I decided to tackle the freezer. Unfortunately it wasn't as successful or photo-friendly, so I am leaving further organization there for another day. 

I'm finishing my evening with Princess on the couch. She's napping while I sip my first green smoothie. It's a lot better than I'd anticipated!! Actually, it's delicious! 

Mmmm. Green.

To make it I used (roughly):

• 1.5 C Spinach
• 1 Banana 
• 1/2 C Whole Milk
• 1/2 C Apple Juice
• 1 C Mixed Frozen Fruit 

I blended mine together an extra long time to avoid any spinach lumps. I've found using an immersion blender for smoothies (great tip from a friend!) is much easier than a full blender, especially for single-servings. Clean up is faster and I don't have that big jar of the blender to juggle. 

I'm feeling so organized...and healthy! What inspires you to organize?