Tidy Fridge Facade

Yikes!  Fridge Side Before

When I come into my kitchen, one of the first things I see is the side of my refrigerator.  It is, as in most homes, plastered with photos, calendars, notices, phone numbers, little bags with box tops or coupons, and who knows what else.  There is such visual clutter there, that I can hardly enjoy my nicely organized refrigerator interior.  So I decided to do something about it.

Fridge Side After

I've been using a weekly menu planner notepad and used the last sheet of paper last week.  I was looking online and there are a lot of cute weekly planners out there, but I didn't want to have to print one out each week.  So, to save a tree and some toner, I chose one, printed it and laminated it.  I simply use an expo marker to write out my meals each week and then wipe it off when it's time to plan the next week's menus.  I took the magnet off the back of old menu notepad and used double sided tape to attach it to the back of my reusable planner.  It lighter and less bulky.

Inside Cupboard Door

The next thing I did was to simply fold the picture down on my calendar.  It cut the calendar in half and now all I see it the important information instead of a bear with a poor dying fish in it's mouth!  I had a bunch of little pieces of papers with appointments on them that I transferred to the calendar.  Imagine that, actually using the calendar to track appointments.  Genius!

So what to do with all those phone numbers, kitchen magnets, pictures, box tops and coupons?  I found this magnetic message board on close-out at Wal-Mart for $3.00.  I mounted it inside the cupboard door closest to the fridge and right by the phone,  All our favorite take-out numbers are there along with all the other important information I want at a moment's notice.  And the little bit of chaos closes up nicely and it out of sight.