It all Started with MTV’s Cribs

I remember the very first time I watched MTV Cribs. It was sometime in college and as I watched I realized I could care less about the outrageous cars and the fancy game rooms; I was immediately drawn to the refrigerator reveal segment. In this one moment the house tour pauses and they open those fridge doors up for the world to see. I loved it! ( Although didn’t you always wonder why they always had so many drinks in their fridge?) So today’s 10 Minute Tuesday is bringing back Cribs. Let’s peek into some fridges, shall we?

I am all for an organized pantry, but the fridge is one of those places where my organizing has never gone beyond “good enough.” It has never come close to looking anything like this Container Store catalog picture.

Leslie on Goodbye House, Hello Home has made her more than ‘good enough’ fridge, wallet-friendly with much cheaper Walmart containers! Wouldn’t you love seeing this tidy box system every time you opened the fridge door?

Although I love the organization happening here, I don’t think it is necessary for us to have that many separate containers with the types of food we buy in my household. Also I think for me the containers would just get in the way when I have odd sized items. But I love the eye friendly look of the clean containers. I am inspired to make her containerizing method work for me.

I knew that if I was going to write about refrigerators the moment would come when I would have to show you mine. Here is what it looks like on a normal day before I need to go grocery shopping (that way I have less stuff to work around).

Nothing to write home about, huh. I was determined to give it a little more structure in just 10 minutes. Well, once I got in there, my fridge became a much cleaner, emptier version of its past self.

My fridge was thanking me, but my 10 Minute Tuesday project had turned into an hour (we are talking about a really clean fridge!) and I had not even started on the door!

Since an hour is about all I had time for in one day, I decided to come back the next day to conquer the door. I took all of the condiments out and grouped them by dish categories (Asian, Mexican, and American type dishes, oh and jam).

Then I had this crazy idea to add labels. Can I add labels to my fridge shelves? It is a little weird but I wanted to do it anyway! Then I found this picture of a labeled veggie draw (made by a Silhoutte) which gave me all the validation I needed.

My labels aren’t so stylish but I really just wanted to see if they are useful in the fridge. I mean, why not? I label everything else!

I hope the labels give me a little more structure to maintain my zones but if they become irrelevant, I have no problem with removing them. I feel the same about the two white baskets I added to the fridge. I had the baskets around the house already, so if they don’t work out for me, I’ll just reuse them somewhere else.

My goal for this 10 Minute Tuesday (turned very long discussion) is to motivate you to take 10 minutes (no pressure for a 2 day project like my fridge), set aside just for tidying up the fridge, adding containers, and setting up zones if you think that will work for you. (Inspiration for wellbeing gives tips on laying out zones in your fridge for healthy eating.)

What is working for you in your fridge? Does anyone else have zones? Who has labeled their fridge too? MTV Cribs fans, holler?