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.

Pantry Pride Plus

Baking Shelf Before

So after my major reorganization of my pantry, I was still having trouble getting to all my baking supplies.  I am gluten free, so I have a lot of extra ingredients when baking.  A simple cornbread might take 5-6 ingredients normally, but a gluten free recipe takes 11-12.  I hate the bags the flours come in so I transfer them to plastic containers.  My containers are all different shapes and sizes.  Some are plastic and some are glass.

BH&G Flip-Tite Food Container

While at Wal-Mart the other day I ran across these square, plastic "Flip-Tite" canisters from Better Homes & Gardens.  I practically cleaned them out!  I got 3 tall, 3 medium, 3 small, and 4 petite.  I have never had all my baking supplies in uniform containers before.  And these containers have nice wide mouths so my big 1 cup measuring scoop will fit in easily.  I was so excited to do this project today.

So I took out my old containers and bags of supplies and  began transferring everything into the Flip-Tites.  I  labeled each so that it can be seen when all are lined up in a graduated pattern.  My little Dymo got a workout today!  It's so easy to find and retrieve what I need.  I've been waiting 13 years to do something like this.  I'm a happy baker!