Welcome to Clean Sweep, news.com.au’s home organisation series featuring exclusive advice on how to declutter your home direct from Aussies who have spruced their way to success.
We’ve all been there – spent minutes rummaging around our fridge for that last bit of cheese or looked in the back only to discover something that has, ahem, seen better days.
But one NSW mum has shared her storage solution for keeping things neat and tidy inside the fridge and, good news, it costs just $60.
Carmen Strong, whose $700 pantry makeover went viral last year, transformed her fridge over the period of a month.
The mum-of-two from the Central Coast shares her decluttering solutions and minimalist home on her Instagram page @littlestronghome, where she has more than 35,000 followers.
Key to her fridge transformation has been using see-through plastic containers from Kmart which she said were not only a bargain, but also made things easy to see in her fridge.
“Often in a fridge that you can’t see through or isn’t organised you’re rummaging around to look for something,” Ms Strong told news.com.au.
“But at least if it’s in a destination that it goes back to in the morning when you’re in a hurry, it’s a simple open of the fridge go to the lunches section, grab what you need and get out the door.”
To start her fridge makeover, Ms Strong took everything out and experimented with plastic containers for a month.
“Easiest way to do it would be to completely gut and empty your fridge, clean it out from top to toe, place some containers in and see what works for you,” she said.
For Ms Strong she wanted to establish spaces for pre-made meals, snacks, dairy, leftovers and cold drinks.
“I started with four containers in the fridge initially, and placed key things in there like kid’s lunches, our lunches and any leftovers,” she said.
“Then I had a section for dairy, because you can find there are lots of loose ends that get scattered throughout your fridge.
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After being satisfied that her container combination was working for her and her family, Ms Strong made everything permanent.
“Once you’re happy with the way it’s been functioning for a couple of weeks it’s (about) going and getting those labels and popping those labels on them,” she said.
“So everybody can read and understand exactly where it goes … when there is no label you can’t really hold people to account for putting them back in the wrong space, because they don’t know exactly where it belongs.”
All up the fridge transformation cost no more than $60 and was money well spent.
“The containers I think were priced between $4 to $6 and I think my fridge probably has about eight to 10 total,” Ms Strong said.
With its aesthetically pleasing labels and tidy sectioning, the Strong family fridge isn’t just easy on the eye – it also makes the household run more smoothly.
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“(It’s) meant that I could pre-prep any dinners or lunches or anything to do with kids that was going into the preschool lunch box the next day, and place them in a destination that would both serve my husband and myself if we weren’t there,” she said.
“To sort of be able to communicate to ourselves by having a label which says this is the kids’ lunches, or this is the kids’ snacks that I’ve pre-prepared, so that he knew exactly what to do.”
Ms Strong’s fridge has proved a hit on Instagram, where followers have praised the simple yet stylish solution.
“Fridge goals,” one person wrote, while another said: “Amazing fridge organisations kill! Thanks for the idea.”
“Love this! Especially the deli and meat bit at the bottom. Never seen a fridge like that,” one follower commented.
“This is a little slice of heaven,” another wrote.
Got a good home organisation or cleaning story to share? Email Clean Sweep at hannah.paine1@news.com.au
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