Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Day 2 of the 91 Day De-Clutter Challenge Week #1: Kitchen & Pantry

Refrigerator and Freezer

My two week menu list
puttied to a cupboard door.
As I mentioned in my last post, I had just finished my grocery shopping and am totally stocked up for two weeks worth of menus. The refrigerator is overflowing. At the end of the two weeks it is practically empty and you would think we are starving, but we are not. I work my menu plan to use up all the food purchased, with minimal waste, and use the most perishables first with the canned and frozen last. It still surprises my husband (after 26+ years) that I can put a healthy, nutritious, delicious, and filling meal on the table when we have "nothing left to eat" at the end of the two weeks. But, I digress.

I did forget to take a before photo of my freezer.  I do not have a separate chest freezer, only the tiny one on our refrigerator. At the end of the two weeks this too is nearly empty. However, here it is stuffed as full as I can get it.

The freezer - After
This is as tidy as i could make it and still stuff everything that I needed in it back in. I do wish I had a larger freezer or a chest freezer. It would allow me to purchase more bulk items and have them longer.

Refrigerator Door - After 
I forgot to take a before photo of the refrigerator door. I know this after photo (above) could easily be a before shot for many people, but trust me, it was much worse before I started. I did get rid of all expired items, wiped down the shelves, and restocked the door. My husband keeps some of his meds in the door, as well, so I had to make sure I had room for those. Some of the items in the door are nearly empty and by the end of the two weeks the door, too, will be more roomy and tidy looking.

Finally, I remembered that I was to take some before shots. Here is the before of the refrigerator, proper.

Refrigerator BEFORE
Things are just shoved, willy-nilly, everywhere and anywhere in the fridge. I also need to wipe up the many spills on the fridge floor. I took everything out of the refrigerator and wiped down all the shelves and floor. Then I put everything back in.

Refrigerator AFTER
As you can see, it is still pretty full looking, but it is better organized with the things that need to be consumed first easier to access first. It is on the smaller size scale of regular sized refrigerators so I have to really make sure I know what is in it at all times to ensure nothing spoils or gets forgotten.

Scary Doors
I still need to tackle the fridge/freezer doors. It has been on my To-Do list for months. I ran out of energy but will try to get to it shortly. 



2 comments:

  1. I had a chuckle about Mary starting the decluttering project with the fridge! That's where I started my wholesale declutter project last month. So the insides of the fridge and freezer are in great shape, with like items sorted into bins I picked up at the dollar store, so it doesn't look like piles of unrelated stuff I have to search through. I also have the incentive now to tackle the weekly clean up every week on garbage day.

    I also get the scary fridge door thing. Ours looked like that, until I stripped off all the clutter, and put up a big calendar page (covers the freezer door), on the front. Now the front of the fridge is useful for more than collecting bits and pieces of stuff.

    Monday's job (which I will tackle today) is the top of the fridge, before diving into the pantries. At some point I also need to rescue a couple of things that slid down behind the fridge. But I have to find more kitchen floor before I do that...

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  2. The funny thing is, several months ago my refrigerator doors were nice and tidy and magnet free. Then, my dear sweet husband found a box full of our magnets and happily put them all over the door (as you see here).

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