Organization: In the Fridge

 That's right.  In the fridge.   I have organized my fridge.  Let's take a look inside, shall we?

I am embarrassed to show you the inside of my fridge, prior to organizing it, so you'll just have to pretend that you see a picture of an icky fridge.  There were a few science experiments growing, (may or may not have been some leftovers from New Year's Eve) and there were some empty containers in there (thanks kids, for putting away empty containers).

I started with taking every thing out.  Because that's how I roll.  You'll notice there is a pattern in my de-cluttering, organizing process.   I take everything out, so I can see what I have in front of me and then I re-group every thing into small piles, then I sort through each and every individual piles until every thing has a home.  Whether it's in the recycling bin, trash, donation, etc.  Nothing will be left in a pile.
I started with sorting through all the food, proud to say there was only a few, not a lot of not-used-very-often condiments, that expired.  
Then I scrubbed down all the trays and the walls of the fridge.

Earlier in the week, I had got to the Dollar Tree and found a few of these beauty's.  I only bought a few of them, but I think I'm going to go back and get a few more.  

As you can see I put all of our salad dressing into one of them, which was great tonight at dinner. 

 Just took the whole basket out, everyone chose their dressing of choice, and back in the fridge it went, still organized.   Then I did some small condiments in another basket.  I combined the ones that are frequently causing the question, "Mom, I can't find the (insert food item here), have you seen it?"  Usually, found right beneath their noses. 
The last basket, I used for things, like Hummus, Laughing Cow cheese, and a few other items like that. 

 I decided that I still need a few more.  I am going to put the kid's drink packs in one, and their snacks for after school in another.

The second shelf is the shelf I designated for left overs.   Yup, that's my lunches there.   All ready and packed to go for the week.   And that's my lunch bag on the top shelf.  No more scrambling in the morning.  The fridge looks a little bare, this was pre-grocery shopping trip.

I have to say, I think my produce drawer is now my favorite drawer!  I decided NO MORE BAGS!  NO MORE of those plastic bags you put your produce in.   In our family, it seems like the produce gets buried, lost, forgotten, and turned into a science project.  Or I buy more, forget how much I have, and then it's wasted.  I am keeping everything visible.  Nothing hiding.  All veggies and fruits out in the open.  I love seeing how many tomatoes I have or cucumbers.  I love that the kids can just help themselves to the baby carrots whenever they want. 

So now, the fridge will be cleaned and organized every Sunday, on grocery shopping day!  It's all about establishing routines and sticking with them!

What's hiding in your fridge?   How often are you cleaning it out?  Weekly?  Bi-Weekly?  Monthly?  Have any tips you'd like to share?  What new routine have you started in 2013?