Well, we definitely don’t have unlimited funds, and if I use the online store locators for Ikea or The Container Store the search results might as well just be someone laughing at me. I basically only have Target to work with. Which is probably the reason why I think I need cube organizers in every room, seriously that’s basically all our local Target sells in the organization department.
Sadly, I have a very standard no frills refrigerator with the dumbest rack position options ever. With a trip to the dollar store and a handful of bins, I was in business!
Here’s a shot of my entire refrigerator. I ended up purchasing 6 baskets, in 2 different sizes and colors from the Dollar Tree. So this whole project cost a whopping $6.
I’ll give you the little tour of our refrigerator. You can use this as guidelines, but I’m sure you’ll want your baskets to hold a variation of different things than what my family uses. I didn’t label my bins yet, but I think I’ll be adding chalkboard labels like these soon.
Don’t you think chalkboard labels will add a great little added flair?
On the bottom starting from top left to right:
Sandwich basket:
This basket holds everything my husband needs to make sandwiches for work. Deli Meat, Sliced cheese, and condiments. Perfect for AJ to grab when he’s packing his work lunch.
Vegetable basket:
Pretty self explanatory, we keep fresh vegetables in this bin.
Salsa and Hot Sauce basket:
Oh yes, AJ has enough salsa and hot sauce in our refrigerator to take up an entire bin. He’s a little bit obsessed.
Left drawer:
Fruit drawer, as you can see it was filled with apples and oranges at the time. #AllTheFruit
Right drawer:
More vegetables. We can’t fit all of our vegetables in our veggie basket, so the overflow goes here. Depending on my meal plan I don’t always need the overflow bin.
We always keep a cold pitcher of filtered water in our refrigerator.
Cheese Basket:
We do in fact live in Wisconsin so a cheese basket is required, and it’s almost always filled. Block cheese, shredded cheese, and string cheese goes here!
Salad Dressing/Condiment basket:
I don’t even like salad dressing, so the fact that we have an entire basket devoted to it might be a little crazy. That’s all my husband again, he definitely loves sauces.
Meal helper basket:
A basket with all of the extras I need for the weeks meal plans. Currently my basket has tortillas, crescent rolls, heavy cream, and a few other items.
I keep leftovers, pre-made lunches, shredded lettuce, and eggs on the top shelf. I love having a designated area for leftovers, no more science experiments. We definitely eat more of our leftovers now and dispose of them right away if they aren’t eaten in time.
I organized this a couple months ago and it’s a system that definitely works. It saves us time and frustration. AJ loves it, because he can pull out his sandwich bin and have everything out at once. No more fishing for all the ingredients when you need them.
Aliceana knows where her favorite things are thanks to these bins. She can easily find string cheese, yogurt, and juice boxes in our super organized refrigerator.
I do need to add some washable shelf liners so I don’t have to wash my refrigerator as often. I love these washable shelf liners, they’re a cute design and come in 3 colors.
Do you have any other dollar store organization projects in your home? Let me know in the comments below!
great idea.. I need to get on over to dollar tree!
Wow that’s an amazing idea!!! In my fridge, I feel like we have too many shelves… like most of the time I can’t fit things into the rows without squishing them… then it’s so dark in the back that things go to waste. I definitely will look into this idea for our fridge! Thanks!
I never thought of that! Our fridge is terribly unorganized, and it takes forever to find what you’re looking for.
My refrigerator was such a mess before this, which is why there was no before photo haha. I hope this helps you as much as it helped us!
I really love this! and desperately need it. I am so trying it this weekend! Thanks!
We just got a new fridge– looks a lot like your =) I had a small deli drawer in my old one and the new one doesn’t–I love how you used the bins–SO CUTE! Going to the dollar store TODAY!
That’s great to hear! I hope it works as well for you as it does for us!
That’s awesome 🙂 Good job! I’m dying to know how you organize your fridge door, though.
There’s no way I’m showing my fridge door ever. My husband is obsessed with condiments and our fridge door is so full of random things!
I love this idea! I wish my fridge looked that neat.
great idea ,, really amazing
Oh, that’s awesome! I love “meeting” fellow Wisconsinites online! I hope this trick works great for your refrigerator too!
This is a great idea! It would be great to sort it out for my kids to know which baskets had what. Thanks for sharing your tips at Inspire Me Monday!
Every time I try something like this it quickly falls into disarray. I like that my kids could pull the baskets out to make a sandwich or whatever. Thanks for posting. Hello from Inspire Me Mondays.
Instead of the shelf liners you can use plastic place mats. They’re a lot cheaper and have great designs.
Awesome idea! Thanks for sharing and reading!
For shelf liners I use vinyl placemats from the discount stores. This way you can change out with the seasons and they are sooooo simple to pull out and wipe down!
That’s an awesome idea, thanks for sharing!
WOW, I am so HAPPY I found you! My little frezzer on top of my fridge has no shelves, no ice maker just a square mess..I have been trying to find a way to organize it and LOVE your concept….easy, cheap, and straight forward! Thank you for taking the time to share!