Is it just me or does anyone else feel like when their surroundings are a constant hot mess that everything else in life seems to follow suit? This has been my dilemma for the past few months—life has undoubtedly been kind of a roller coaster lately and my physical surroundings pretty much always look like a tornado just swept through. I've always thought of myself as a fairly neat and organized person, but lately the only real semblance of organization in my life is when I scroll through Pinterest.
This weekend, I felt a wave of motivation to finally get it together (after living here for more than half a year...) I thought about tackling my second bedroom/office which is literally a catch-all with everything from beach chairs to dumbbells thrown across floor, but I immediately felt overwhelmed. So, I backed out, shut the door behind me and decided that project will be for another day. I once read that if you want to not become overwhelmed by organizing, you have to start with something smaller and more manageable. Once that's done, it'll usually give you the motivation to take a stab at bigger projects. With that thought in mind, I decided my fridge would be a good place to start.
Before:
After:
Tips:
As I mentioned, I highly recommend starting small. To add to that though, do things in phases. If you're like me and tend to get overwhelmed by a seemingly major task, break it up into small sections. I committed to not letting the process stress me out because I had some arbitrary goal to get it done in an hour. I did some on Saturday, and some on Sunday and it was genuinely stress-free. This eliminates the barrier of never getting started because you're overwhelmed. Commit to small sections at a time.
Let go of the idea that it has to be "perfect." Another major barrier to starting any process is feeling like it's not worth it unless the execution is perfect. This is SO false. I think we all get tripped up by wanting to achieve a certain something and if we can't reach that ideal, the whole process was a waste. At the end of the day, nobody really is ever going to care if your fridge (or anything else) looks like a Pinterest board. The purpose of organization is to create a space that works better for you, so aim for that and you can't go wrong.
This goes hand in hand with the previous point, but work to find your personal balance between functionality and aesthetics. The thing is, that is going to look different to everyone. For me, functionality is going to carry more weight than being aesthetic nine times out ten. I'm all about things looking nice, but not to the point where it's annoying for me to keep up with. You just have to decide what actually matters in your day to day.
You don't need to get anything fancy, but actually purchase items that are going to make your job easier. In my opinion, you have to have things separated out in order to maintain organization, and need to store like items together. This way, everything has a place to go back to. You can organize by just straightening all the stuff in your fridge, but more likely than not, it will just become a jumbled up mess again pretty quickly. I got everything I used at Target, and they were all very reasonably priced. The standouts of what I purchased were definitely these youCoupia Caddies (I got the 6" ones). They're perfect for keeping snacks corralled together and have adjustable dividers. It also has wheels on the back so you can lift and slide the entire thing to easily reach everything. This youCopia turntable is awesome for keeping drink containers easily accessible. I also got this youCopia can stacker which does the job, but I prefer this iDESIGN can organizer in terms of durability and practicality.
Don't be afraid to reconfigure. I ended up taking a shelf out because no matter what I did, it was just in the way. Do I have random refrigerator shelf in my closet now? Yes, but that's worth it to me for making it 100% more functional. I always thought my fridge had a lot of space, but sometimes the way the shelves are set up just causes wasted space. You can almost always adjust heights, so definitely try out different configurations.
Don't skip the throwing away process. I have every condiment under the sun and I hate to admit, but it's been a hot minute since I checked an expiration date on things I don't use regularly. Take the time to actually go through every (yes, every) item and make sure that you actually will use it, and that it hasn't gone bad. Don't let unnecessary items take up space anymore.
After everything is out, actually clean out/wipe down your fridge and all the shelves. Mine was low-key gross, so don't skip this step. Obviously you want to be careful with what you're using to clean since this is what stores your food. I just used a tiny bit of dish soap and warm water and that was all I needed. Dry everything, and then reassemble.
Make a designated spot for leftovers. This one always leads to my fridge being a disaster because there's usually a bunch of leftovers all over the place. I have a small drawer at the very bottom of my fridge, so I've started to use that as my designated leftover home. The drawer is pretty shallow so I also use it for random other flatter objects that are easily tucked away.
Use square Tupperware/containers. This seems small, but it definitely makes a difference and saves space. When you can, avoid circles since you can't really tuck them into corners well.
Don't be afraid to rearrange your work. You have to think or organization like a work in progress, and if something isn't working how you originally did it, mess around with things until the layout is right. My first go through wasn't quite how I wanted it, so I rearranged and like it much better. Again, it doesn't have to be perfect the first time. You can always adjust as you live with it for awhile!
Let us know if you guys would be interested in seeing more organization transformations in the future!
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