Let's get Organized!

So courtesy of this nesting thing I feel inclined to get everything in my house organized before baby gets here.  And by everything, I mean EVERYTHING.  There's the bedroom and the closets to get organized by size of clothing.  Both my clothing, and Lyla's, since we'll be changing sizes enough over the next 6 months at least. There are the books and the DVD's... the mindless things that I'll want access to while trying to talk my body into going to sleep every 2 hours.  The cleaning supplies, the meal plans and grocery lists to have ready for DH.  And, as if that on top of the daily tasks and batch cooking isn't enough, I decided to take on the fridge and freezer!



I've been so ridiculously sick of having to get in about once a month or once every few months and sort through the condiments that have been pushed to the back of the fridge, find out what's expired and what hasn't.  Thinking I don't have something because it's made its way to the area of the unknown at the back of the bottom shelf and so I buy another one.  ...Like lime juice, I discovered I have 3 bottles of lime juice.  I hardly ever use lime juice in anything that I cook, and now I'm the proud owner of 3 bottles!

And the freezer?  The previous place had at least a shelf in the freezer so everything wasn't piled on top of one another.  The new place has no shelf and we stock so much freezer stuff.  Most of it is in bags or is meat and trying to get something that's at the bottom of the pile resorts in a deadly avalanche of frozen falling at my face.  Between the chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, hamburg and steak.  And then the frozen veggies, frozen fruits, always on hand ice cream, then the other miscellaneous items... You can see how I cringe at the thought of having to search for something in the freezer right now.

So, I set out on the wonderful world of interwebs to find a reasonable solution.  And when I found one I wanted to slap myself in the head...repeatedly.  It's so simple!!!  How on earth could I have not have thought about it??  Totes!  I know, I know... totes in the fridge and freezer?  Sounds slightly strange, right?  Wrong.  It is GENIUS! 

The blue totes?  $1 per tote at Wal-Mart.  In the freezer one holds my individually wrapped chicken breasts; the other holds the other random meat.  The shelf?  I don't really remember...4 bucks maybe?  Also Wal-Mart, 2 pieces and it's completely adjustable to fit whatever space you want to use it in.  The white basket on the top right of the freezer is part of a 3 pack at Wal-Mart, $4 for the 3 pack and they're stackable.  Is it all perfect?  No.  But, I now know that I have more than 6 chicken breasts in my freezer since the rest aren't buried under the other meats or frozen fruit for smoothies.

The fridge...  Again, my $1 blue totes that hold salsas, queso, jams, yogurts, and other small snack things like apple sauce and fruit cups.  Keeps them from getting shifted to the back where you can't see them.  If you don't happen to have a drawer in your fridge for deli meats and cheeses you can use one for that too!  The clear tote on the bottom right was $3 and change.  A little pricey for 1 tote but SO worth it.  It holds pickles, mustard, parm, my 3 bottles of lime juice, pasta sauce... the heavy condiments that I don't use very often.  This tote is a little sturdier than my $1 totes, and it's deeper too so I get more use of my space.  If I hadn't been determined to get it done NOW, I probably would have waited and justified buying actual fridge bins that are deeper so I get more use out of the space but really, it's not that bad.  Plus, this is the less expensive option.  If you're looking for some simple solutions these certainly do the trick.

So, there you have it.  Nesting at its finest...and pickiest.  But, no more losing yogurts and cottage cheese and salsa and finding them once they've expired at the back of your fridge.  Or learning you have 3 bottles of lime juice.

Also...while I've been using these for a while I can't help but add in how wonderful they are.  The picture below is of the bin at the top right of the freezer, notice the yellow circles?

They are these amazing clips from Ikea.  A 30 pack for $2.99.  I currently have 2 packs open and being used, and 1 that has yet to be opened but on standby.  A woman I worked for as a nanny used them on everything while I was living out near Seattle.  So, on one of my Ikea trips I caved and for $2.99 decided I'd try a pack.  They come in assorted sizes and I'll admit, I don't use the little ones nearly as much as the large ones, but they get their use enough that even with a TON of extra little ones floating around I don't feel wasteful in owning 3 packages of these for their price.  Now that I own them, I have to admit that I understand why they go on everything...ESPECIALLY when you have kids.  These things will keep cereal fresh for months (I know, I bought a BJ's Wholesale bag of cereal and I'm pretty sure it took me 3 months to eat it all, and it NEVER went stale during that time).  I use them on my frozen bags of veggies, chips, cereal, wheat thins, produce bags from the grocery store that have fruit in it to keep fruit flies at bay during the summer.  They're amazing.  You can use them on arts and crafts bags, bags of colored sand that your kids play with...whatever!  And they kick a zip lock bags butt because A.) They’re reusable and B.) You don't have to wonder if all the seals on your zip lock bag are connected correctly when your kid picks it up and insists on shaking it around.  I love them so much more than chip clips or clothes pins because you don't have to roll the bag to get the air out and then pray that it will fit.  For chip bags, squeeze the air out, fold the top corner in to make a triangle, and clip across.  We waste so much less food now that we've been using these for the past year.  If you ever find yourself at an Ikea, or happen to run into this product or one like it I encourage you to pick it up.  You don't realize how much you'll use it for until you start using it.  Chocolate chip bags, confectioners’ sugar.  You name it, if it's in my house, can be put in a bag or comes in a bag and might go bad or attract bugs...it has one of these clips on it.

If you don't have an ikea near you, Amazon sells some that are similar.  They're a little more expensive than the Ikea ones (shoot, you can even get the Ikea one's for about 10 bucks after shipping) but...even if I had to pay $10 a pack I would still tell you that they're worth it.

These  seem like the best deal to me as an alternative because you truly get 4 different sizes and may only need the 1 bag.  20 clips for 7.95.  Plus with my amazon prime account I get free shipping.   (free shipping may be an option if you're not amazon prime, I'm not sure.)  Are you a mom?  Sign up for amazon mom (for free) and get free amazon prime.  The more stuff you buy from their children's section, the longer they extend your free amazon prime membership (sneaky little way around paying for it).

These are another option, 27 clips for 10 dollars and free shipping but you only get 3 different sizes.

These are exactly what I have from Ikea, sold through amazon.  You're paying more than I paid for mine, however it's about the same $10 after shipping for 30 clips.

My honest opinion...if you have to order online and pay almost $10 bucks for them, I'd go with the first option as it gives you more sizes.  Ikea clips give you 2 sizes, large and small...and there are a lot more small than large.  So, if you're going to pay more than the 2.99 I paid for them because you don't have an Ikea near you, go with the 20 clips for 7.95, you'll get more use out of all the sizes and may not feel compelled to own 90 clips like I do :)