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Chilling the Clutter in Your Deep Freezer

By Jennifer Snyder

Hunting season is over and sprucing up for Spring is in full swing, if not officially here.  Hopefully freezers are full of last seasons booty and needs to be defrosted.  Lucky for you, everything must come out to accomplish such a feat.  Now lets get it organized!

Deep, or chest, freezers are particularly difficult.  Just one large cavernous space begging for things to be dropped in and forgotten (freezer burn, anyone?).  Stuff on the bottom becomes lost and forgotten, right? An upright is my favorite but certainly don't run out and buy one on my account.

Then whole concept of a deep freezer is to store for future use, it is a place to store good buys and pre-made meals.  Whatever the reason, it can quickly become a chilly cave we do not dare to explore - after all, it is really stinking cold in there.  There is hope!  Here is how:

1.  Take everything out.  I mean everything.


2.  Repackage anything that might be in a package or container that you cannot see to identify. Gladware containers are great for this purpose.  Save your good Tupperware for nightly leftovers.


3.  Sort into very general categories.  By being too specific you set yourself up to be overwhelmed by the task.  I recommend starting with meat, frozen fruit, veggies and sides, breads, treats, and ready meals.


4.  Throw out anything you would consider yourself a bad parent/spouse for feeding to your family.  If it has crystals growing underneath the plastic wrap, it has been in there too long.  Crystals make ice cream taste bad too.


5.  Create an inventory - on a piece of paper - divided by category.  You can Google a cute printable (which always make it more fun because it's fun to look at) or simply use a sheet of paper from a legal pad.  Do what makes you happy.  Mom on a Mission website and I Heart Organizing are great sources for fun printable forms.  Just make sure you have the date and identify individual packages to make it easier to document when you use them.


Now to return them to your soon-to-be organized freezer.  Remember the Gladware recommendation?  If you go this route, they will stack nicely by your categories.  I strongly advise these in lieu of Ziplock bags because they will fall over.  If you find yourself to be a die hard Ziplock person, at least use milk-type crates to keep your like items together.

Finally, label, label, label!  Labeling not only keeps you better organized but it also is a great accountability tool for family members.  We all hate it when someone actually helps like we have asked and they do it wrong.  With labels, wrong simply isn't an option - provided helpers can read.

After you get your freezer organized, keep an eye on it.  Identify what is going wrong and then think outside to box to solve that little problem.  Organizing questions are always welcome on our Facebook page: Neat as a Pin Organizing Experts.

Have a Neat day!

Jennifer Snyder, Certified Professional Organizer
Neat as a Pin Organizing Experts
www.neatasapin.net
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Categories:  Organizing Tips

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