Organizational Challenge: The Freezer

Today’s organizational challenge is the freezer. We are setting ourselves up for success in the future and not focusing on the past. Please try not to dwell on any should haves.

I’ve been running this site for 15 many years now and still find mystery objects in the bottom of my freezer. Life happens. You don’t live on a TV set, and no one product or system is one hundred percent foolproof. You can always aim for better, but you will have busy seasons, marriage, births, school sports seasons, holidays, or life will hand out the changes none of us want to face: death, divorce, layoffs, illness. Whatever the reason, we lose track.

Let it go.

Get some gloves. This stuff is cold.

You will want a cooler or two to hold the items you want to keep as you sort shelf by shelf (or basket by basket).

Please empty your trashcan before you start. You will probably need the room.

Please get rid of the items that have obviously passed their expiration. Remember, a use-by date is a freeze-by date, not a consume-by date in the deep freeze. You are looking for damaged packaging, obvious freezer burn, and unidentifiable objects.

Make a list of what you have so you don’t waste energy pawing through the freezer and damaging what you have. This will also help you plan meals and take advantage of future sales.

Pro-tip: Your freezer is much more efficient when it is full. If you find that you have a lot of room after you finish organizing today. Find some empty freezer-safe containers one at a time, fill them with water, and freeze them. They will take up room in your freezer. As a bonus, if you live in hurricane country, this can count as part of your water storage. Just save it for the very last. You don’t want to open your freezer, letting any of that cold out.