The cold puddle of water on the floor one morning woke me faster than any alarm clock. The freezer for some unknown reason decided to spontaneously defrost. Everything was still partially frozen, so I didnt lose any food -- or any time transferring items to the freezer in my garage. It was the opportunity I had been looking for. It was my chance to clean out and organize the freezer once and for all so I could finally find something when I was looking for it.
My pantry is well organized. In fact, I often go in there and just admire its logical arrangement and organizational efficiency. The cans all neatly stacked on a step-shelf make my heart go pitter patter. But the freezer fills me with dread. My head and hands go numb in the time is takes just to find a box of frozen peas.
And while I search, small items fall out continuously because stuff is just rammed in anywhere and everywhere. Nothing makes sense and theres no order to it at all. I had to take action, and while I was waiting on the repairman to come fix the mystery defrost mode, it was my chance to tackle the freezer and create order in my frozen chaos.
Contain it
One of the problems with freezers is that we often store many small items. When theyre stacked on a shelf they become a huge mess and you cant find anything. Thats when I decided to create drawer space in the freezer using baskets to contain similar items. A small plastic crate holds bags of gourmet coffee. A large basket holds baking items that I like to keep in the freezer. The baskets allow me to pull them out and put them on the counter to find my item so much easier than diving headfirst into the frozen depths to sort through the freezers flotsam and jetsam.
If you have really small oddly-shaped items, add drawer organizers to the door shelves. These long rectangles can hold those little items so they dont fall out of the shelves and they can also be removed from the door so you can sort through them quickly. Line all your door shelves with these and you can keep sticky frozen drink cans from creating a mess in the freezer.
Label and organize
Most professional organizers will tell you not to label shelves in the pantry or refrigerator. Why not? They say its too rigid. Well, I aspire to the rigidity of a Marine boot camp drill instructor for my freezer. I want labeled shelves and I want the items on the correct shelves because I want to find things in the freezer. I also want my family members to know where to put things or find things.
So, I labeled the shelves with labels for meat, ice cream, frozen vegetables, etc. And you know what? Thats exactly where I find the meat, the ice cream, and the frozen vegetables. No more having to plumb the arctic depths of my freezer just to find those green peas and nothing falls out when I do.
Theres no great mystery about organizing. Simply put like with like. Have one spot for all your frozen food items, one for drinks, one for meat, and so on. Placing like items on your freezer shelves means you wont have to look all over creation just to find those frozen waffles because theyll be next to the frozen pizza and the frozen dinners.
Make your freezer space organized this week and your numb and blue fingers will thank you.
Kathryn Weber is a decorating and lifestyle columnist and the publisher of RealHOME E-zine, the e-zine with ideas and tips for todays real families. To subscribe, log on to http://www.realhomeezine.com and get this free special report, The 10 Habits that Help You Keep a Cleaner House.
Pantry Organizer-Organizing Your Pantry For Maximum Efficiency And Effectiveness
Your pantry is vital to keeping your belongings organized
and well kept. Unfortunately, many people find their pantry a mess because of a
lack of simple organization skills. Here are some simple yet very effective
tips to helping you achieve an organized pantry starting today.First of all, make sure that every item you have stored is
easily vis...
Choosing a Custom Kitchen Cabinet Design Firm
Can you imagine your kitchen, completely organized? And not just organized, but organized in a new and attractive way with a custom kitchen cabinet design. Whether your project is for custom kitchen cabinet design only or for an entire kitchen with custom kitchen cabinet design as well, you will find that the process isnt as painful as you have b...
Refrigerator - A Need For All
Adapting to the growing needs of people, refrigerator manufacturers are coming up with new and improvised models.You can choose any one of the following kinds of fridges that meet your requirements:Chest Refrigerators are commercially approved models. They are ideal for use in medical centers, food services applications, restaurants and institution...
Getting Started With Home Based Schooling
Home based schooling has been around for many years as more and more families choose this method in spite of public schooling.A home based school is the place where children are taught at home by one or both parents without any influence from public school systems. This method is legal in all 50 US states even though each state has its own rules an...
Tips How To Lose Weight Fast Before Having Heart Surgery
Are you about to go through heart surgery? Doctor recommended you to lose weight fast before? Here I am going to give you some helpful tips that will help you to get prepared for your heart surgery in few steps!First step is to decide how much weight you need to lose and how much time you have before the surgery! That's very important so you will k...
Make Your Kitchen Convenient And Gorgeous
Are you someone that enjoys cooking and does it as much as possible? Yet, do you actually like cooking in your kitchen? Typically, cooking areas are not organized for frequent cooking. For example, the cutting board is not near the stove, but far from it on a separate counter top. Then again, you might have a small kitchen that you have a hard time...
The Truth About Those Old Refrigerators
If you know that a 20-year-old refrigerator uses 40% more electricity than a current model, will you quickly replace it? I guess if you have one, you will be running straight to the nearest store for a replacement.An old, inefficient refrigerator can cost up to $280 a year to run; a new, efficient refrigerator can save more than $150 each year over...
