It's that time of year. We have made our lists of resolutions and changes we want to make. We have our goals ready to act on. We know what we want to accomplish this year. We took time for New Years Partying. We recovered from it and now we need to start!


A great place to start is our refrigerators. This is the heartbeat of the home, usually. It has last years take-out menu's and art works clipped to the front, usually right along with our goals and calendar items. If it is like at my house, it is where we keep the weekly shopping list and menu's clipped so everyone can add to the shopping list and see what is on the menu for breakfast, lunch or dinner at any given moment throughout the day.


If your refrigerator is like ours after the holidays, then it is time to tackle the partial food containers, opened cans with cling wrap hanging off, and giant sized containers with little to no food left inside. It really is time to tackle the beast! I like to take everything out. The stuff I know is trash, I chuck it. It is time to get rid of everything and start over.


Once everything has been removed, scraped and put in the dishwasher, then it is time to lean back and take notice of what you can learn from the things that you threw away, especially if Saving Money or Tightening the Budget was on your list of resolutions. Perhaps If you threw away a lot of rotted vegetables you need to decide if you bought too much or if your family isn't eating what you are buying. This process can save you time and money in the future. We all want to eat right, but we need to make sure we are buying what we will eat and not just for 'looks'. After you take a look and make some mental notations of what was thrown out then you can move on to the cleaning aspect.


We have gone over cleaning out the refrigerator before. Once you have it to your sparkly clean liking take another look at the emptiness of your refrigerator. Did you know that a refrigerator is most energy-efficient when it has adequate air flow? It can't have that air flow if it is jam packed with things that we have forgotten about or dislike.


If Meal Planning and Home Organization is on your list then cleaning out the refrigerator is a huge leap on that. You can figure out likes and dislikes from the refuse that you have rid the beast of. Make your own meal planner using Word or Excel or find a free printable online that suits your family needs. Start today on those tasks. We make our own menu planners. I usually do them weekly starting on Wednesday because that is payday. It works for us. It might not work for you. Find out what will work for your family situation and build on it!


It may sound funny, but, you can opt for organizational tools for the refrigerator. Rectangle containers to contain loose items like butter and cream cheese. It can also contain the lunch cheeses and meats that are limp and hard to store (and easily get stuck behind and under things!)

Good luck and may your resolutions be easier to reach than you think!