Deep Clean and Organize the Refrigerator in 30 mins!

After dealing with my youngest daughter, husband, AND myself being sick the entire duration of my spring break, I was forced to get a weeks worth of cleaning done in two days. With that being said, cleaning/organizing my fridge was on the top of my to do list. Not only did I want to give it a deep clean, but I wanted to ensure it NEVER got as bad as it was again. Here is how I cleaned and organized my fridge in about 30 minutes!

What you will need:

• 5-7 Mainstay Refrigerator Baskets from  (depending on the size of your fridge)
• Glad Press and Seal Wrap
• Ammonia (yup I went old school)
• Water
• Sponge/Dishcloth
• Spray Bottle
• Bathtub

1. Fill your bathtub up with warm water, a cup of ammonia, and a few squirts of dish detergent. To save time go ahead and move to step 2, but make sure you check on your filling tub periodically.
2. Okay now let's empty the fridge. I sat all my items on my kitchen table during this step. 
3. Take out all removable parts of your fridge and place them in the water you ran in your tub. The only thing that I was not able to remove in my fridge was the bottom rack. I was however able to remove the glass portion that sits within the rack. Make sure that all parts of the fridge are submerged (or mostly submerged) in the water. Let these soak for about 15 minutes while you move on to step 4.
4. Fill your spray bottle halfway with ammonia and the other half with water. Spray the inside of the fridge with this mixture and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. While you wait go ahead and toss any items on your kitchen table that may be expired or items that you no longer use.
5. Using a sponge or dishcloth go ahead and wipe down the inside of your fridge. The ammonia/water mixture really works wonders and everything wipes off with ease.
6. Rinse (with warm water) and remove all items from the tub. You can chose to let these items air dry on a towel or to save time you could dry them with a paper towel. 
7. Once all items are dried go ahead and reattached the fixtures used for condiments. You can also go ahead and put your condiments back at this point.
8. Use the press and seal to cover the top of each shelving fixture prior to attaching it in your fridge. I ended up having to used two pieces of the wrap horizontally to cover each of my shelves. Using press and seal will prevent you from having to "deep clean" your fridge the next go round. Simply removed the press and seal, do a quick wipe down, and reapply more press and seal. If you look at the first picture on this blog you can barely see the press and seal as it blends in really well with the glass. Genius right? :)
9. Lastly, I used a few Mainstay Refrigerator baskets from Walmart (pictured below) to organized my fridge. They were rather inexpensive at $2.97 a basket. I have a rather small fridge so I was only able use 5 of the baskets. For my family I chose to designate two baskets for each of my daughters. For my youngest her yogurts and fruits go into her basket. For my oldest daughter all of the stuff she packs for lunch goes into one basket. I used two baskets at the bottom of my fridge for fruits and veggies as we always have a TON of those in the fridge. The possibilities are really endless for this and you will end up doing what works best for you family.

Enjoy your extra clean and organized fridge :)

Bow/Headband Holder

So my youngest daughter is 13 months and up until now I've used one of her smaller dresser drawers to store her headbands and bows. As you could imagine it eventually became rather difficult to find which bow/headband I was looking for at 5:45 am as I am trying to get her dressed and out the door. During many of my early morning Pinterest sessions I saw this super cute headband/bow holder and decided I would make one myself. Here is my finished product!

What you will need:

• Picture frame (I used 8x10)
• Ribbon of your choice
• Screw hooks
• Staple Gun
• Hot Glue Gun
• Embellishments of your choice
• Sharpie

1. If you chose a unfinished wood frame your first order of business would be to paint it and allow it to dry. I chose to stick with a white frame so that I wouldn't have to paint. I also thought it would make my colors pop a little more.
2. Next you will need to cut strips of ribbon that are long enough to span from the top of your frame to the bottom. Since I used a 8x10 frame I only had room for 3 strips of ribbon. Of course if you use a bigger frame you will need more strips of ribbon. Once your ribbon strips are cut place them against your frame to ensure they are properly centered, then using a staple gun secure the ribbon strips tightly to the back of the frame. It is important to make sure you get the ribbon stripes as tight as possible so they will not sag once you began adding your bows.
3. Now that we have a place to hold the bows it's time to make something to hold the headbands. This step requires a little man power, so ladies if I were you I would ask your husband (or a friendly man) to help with this part. Using a sharpie or pencil mark on the bottom of the frame where you would like each screw hook to go. Using a 8x10 frame I only had room for 5 so I aligned the middle one with the middle ribbon and then two on each side of it. Once you have made your makes your can start working them in. Happy screwing!!! lol
   
4. Now that the hard work is out of the way you add any establishments. I decided to added two butterflies using hot glue.
   

So after completing this project I realized that my daughter had more bow/headbands that I thought. I may eventually end up making her a new holder using a 10x14 frame. Other than that I think it turned out cute :)