What's on Your Fridge?

Anyone with kids can attest to the simple fact of how quickly a refrigerator can become overrun by artwork. If you don't have kids, then chances are you have noticed a similar phenomenon with the notes and menus that you have placed on the fridge for "quick and easy" reference in the future. What can be done, though, to help make sense of this hodgepodge collection of menus, artwork, notes and other informational papers? Is there really a way that anyone can use the refrigerator as communication and artwork center, without letting it get out of control?

The simple answer to this is yes: There are several methods that can be used to make sense of this, and here are a few of the best possible ways for you to organize your fridge front into exactly what you want.

• Assign Spaces. The first thing that you are going to need to do in order to best manage your refrigerator front is to clear off the front of your fridge. After the "great clearing," organize all the different papers into different piles. Now, looking back at your fridge, mentally assign a location for each category of your paperwork. In order to be able to organize anything, you are going to need to have an "assigned space" for each category. There is an old saying, "A place for everything and everything in its place." This is what is going on here.
• Rotate Artwork. Considering how much space is, or can be, taken up by your children's artwork, why not go with the simple solution of limiting the number of art pieces you place on the fridge? Place only one piece of artwork for each child in your family and rotate them on a regular basis. You can change them on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis; it's all up to you. By updating and rotating your children's artwork you are going to be able to get a fresh look for your kitchen, while also appealing to your children's artistic abilities.
• Miniaturize Chore Lists. If you are one of those parents who, like me, have their children's list of chores on the fridge, why not go with a miniature version of it? Simply write down the list or scan it into a computer, and then shrink it in size. (This can be easily done with most copy machines these days.) Another way that you can save money is by laminating the list. That way you can reuse the list multiple times.
• Menu Management. There are a couple of ways that you can manage delivery and take out menus. One is to scan and shrink the menus in order to be able to fit more of them into their assigned space. Another, and probably the one that I would suggest using first, is to get a large manila envelope and stick some magnets onto the back of it. In this manila envelope you can store the menus with little or no mess while also having full size menus at your disposal for an easier time of reading them.