When I started to declutter my home, I realized that I knew very little about proper placement of items in a refrigerator. I began to do research about how to store items when I cleaned out the pantry. I had previously been storing nuts and seeds in the pantry and looked up how long their shelf life is. I found that nuts go rancid in just a few months in the pantry, there is a shelf life to herbs and spices, and many other useful things. As a result the refrigerator declutter and organization project was born! Below is a great layout of the best place to store things in your refrigerator as seen on this website.

I used the above diagram as a guide. I am very visual so it helped me to easily get everything in the right place.

Here are the steps to organize your fridge:

• Clear everything out of the refrigerator so you have a clean slate.
• Wipe it down with a non-toxic cleaner. I use Melaleuca Tough and Tender cleaner and a clean, damp rag.
• Then begin categorizing what you have according to the diagram.
• On the top shelf: I store vitamins in a clear, lazy susan. I also store some nuts (the others go in the freezer), flax seed, & hemp seed hearts in Mason Jars here. Eggs are stored in a clear container on the top shelf too.
• On the middle shelves: I store tortillas and bread (see note at the bottom on bread storage) in a clear double sided container, leftovers, hummus, dips, berries, and cheeses. Cheese is stored in a dedicated refrigerator container. I also have clear, narrow containers for snack storage. I also use Rachel Hollis’s idea for veggie snacks to go.
• On the bottom shelf: Store all of your beverages and yogurts here. For the yogurts, I use a clear refrigerator container. This is opposite from what I was doing!
• The drawers can hold the produce according to what level of humidity it needs. I put citrus, apples, and all of our produce in the various bottom drawers as specified. All like items go together. For instance, onions and garlic, apples and citrus, lettuce and spinach, etc. You will find the best way that makes sense to you. The meats are in the drawer closest to the milk. The bottom shelves are the coldest, therefore the best for the most perishable items like milk, yogurt, and meat.
• And finally in the door, I store things in these categories: butter at the top in the enclosed compartments, pickled items, hot sauces, salsa in top rack. I then put soy, worschechire and other sauces on the next rack with syrup, and refrigerated nut butters ( ones that don’t require referigeration go somewhere else), and jams. The next rack is salad dressings and condiments. At the bottom we keep special drinks i.e. sparkling water, iced teas and sodas.

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And here is the final product! A nicely organized and healthy refrigerator. Feel free to message me if you have questions or need some ideas. Coming up next will be kitchen cabinets and miscellaneous storage! If you missed the pantry organization post, you can find that here.