Project Simplify – the fridge

I had planned to get my entire kitchen/fridge/pantry all clean and tidy for this week.  Well, that has not happened.  Never underestimate the amount of time it takes to go through one’s refrigerator after a long winter of root veggies from the winter CSA.  I never realized how much actual dirt was in there…gross, I know.

Actually, my entire house seems to be a disaster right now.  After reading the chapter “A Home That Works” in Tsh’s book Organized Simplicity, I started to re-arrange my furniture again.  It is a habit I am never going to get over I’m afraid.  So right now, I am trying to figure out the best use of each room.  Currently, my dining room is full of boxes of stuff to donate to good will, or to bring to the consignment store.  I even managed to get rid of two boxes of books – a big deal for me.  Have you seen my recent book post?! 😉

I am slowly getting through everything.  And, like always, my hope is to be done before my kids graduate from high school!  Of course, that means that I am constantly going in 100 different directions.  I do love the idea of dedicating time to one space each day, but I don’t have that kind of dedicated time.  When my kids are doing school I can work in one room, when they are napping I move to another space, when I am cooking I try and deal with the entryway and laundry.  Instead I live in constant chaos for a few months until I finally get things the way I want.  Usually around that same time I decide to move things around again.

I need to make a trip to the donation center soon though, because the boxes of stuff are kind of in the way.  Why don’t I just make the run myself?  Well, between the kids car seats and other stuff I need to bring with me on a trip out with the kiddos (portable potty anyone?), I don’t have room for more than a couple boxes.  I would rather make one big trip and just pack the car full 🙂  So it has to wait until the weekend when my hubby is available, and since he has been working on a deadline for the past 6 weeks, it hasn’t happened yet.

But this week is all about the fridge.  I started to take out all the food in there.  I had no idea that some of my fermented foods from the CSA had scum on the top.  Yes, I have heard that you can scrape the scum off and then eat what is underneath, I didn’t find that too appetizing though, and since I am the only one that eats the stuff, I decided it should go.

When I was finished, I realized that we have very little food in the house and I need to go grocery shopping!  It is funny to open the fridge, see it full of food – whether or not the food is actually still edible – and still not be able to find something to eat.  Well, now I know why that is.  Although we do seem to have enough condiments in case TEOTWAWKI happens in the next few days 🙂

I was definitely impressed with myself though.  I took out every shelf and drawer, washed them all, got rid of the bad food, reorganized the spacing of the shelves.  And since I have finished, I notice that I open it up to just admire my job well done.  Not great in the way of energy conservation, but it makes me smile every time I open it!

The freezer didn’t get as thorough of a treatment.  It is a bottom drawer freezer, which I love, but doesn’t organize very easily.  Especially with my bags upon bags of frozen veggies/fruit/beans.  But, I have the food relatively organized.  Enough so that I can easily find what I need.  I had also hoped to get to my “pantry” which is actually part of our entryway.  That also didn’t happen, but it is on my agenda for tomorrow I hope.

How did you all do?  Have you been enjoying the spring cleaning?  I certainly am.  I am also trying to get as much done inside so that this weekend and next week when it is in the 60’s-70’s I can be outside in my yard working on the garden.  70’s…in Maine….in March!  Awesome 🙂

I’m linking up at Live Renewed for the spring cleaning challenge as well as at Project Simplify and linking up at the Spring Into Organization Link Party!