Reorganize your refrigerator using a “station” system

You probably organize your fridge the same way you have for years. If I had to guess, you have condiments in the door, a section for drinks, and a drawer full of produce. This is the classic method, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of, no matter how inferior you may feel when you see one of those viral “stocking the fridge” videos on Reels. However, I would recommend a new approach, not only for you, but for the content creators who make these clips as well. Instead of organizing your food and drinks by type, try creating new types of sections. I’ll explain.

First, describe your sections

I got this idea after reading a Forbes article about organizing. In it, Chelsea Bothe of True Residential suggests decluttering and organizing a refrigerator by “stations,” either by designating them within your refrigerator’s existing shelves and drawers or by using a separate, smaller refrigerator to hold the excess. The goal of stations is to categorize your food a little differently. Here are a few ideas:

• A section dedicated to the ingredients you will need for all your meals over the next week, categorized by day

• A section for each member of your family and their favorite foods and drinks

• Sections for you and your roommates, so everyone knows whose food is whose

Think about the organizing triangle I always talk about. This cleaning philosophy asks you to put like items together and make sure there’s a designated place for everything. In your fridge, you probably already store like items together, like condiments in one area and leftovers in another. But it can get cluttered, and it can be hard to see what you already have before you run to the store or make a new recipe. By planning ahead and reconsidering what “like items” are, you can make sure you have everything you need well before you need it, and get rid of what you don’t need at all.

Start by taking everything out of the fridge and using a decluttering method to get rid of what you don’t need. Then, look at what you kept and think about what new type of categorization strategy might work, whether that’s sorting by day, person, or something else. If you stick to the new categories and organize everything together based on them, you’ll have an easier idea of ​​what to buy the next time you go grocery shopping.

Next, physically create the sections

You can do this by designating certain areas of your shelves, as well as your drawers, but this really limits the number of sections you can create. Instead, I recommend adding removable and pull-out drawers, so you can use the wasted vertical space in the shelves and fit many more sections in them. For example:

With these elements, you can create enough small sections for each day of the week, each member of the family, or any other category that suits you. Be sure to designate a section for miscellaneous and necessary foods that are frequently used or important to store, and then stick to your new schedule to keep the refrigerator tidy.

As you add new foods to the refrigerator, maintain organization by dating everything.