Professional organizing duo The Home Edit has warned against this fundamental labeling mistake that could actually make it harder to keep your fridge tidy.
The Home Edit founders Joanna Teplin and Clea Shearer, have shown countless celebrities from the likes of Khloe Kardashian to Reese Witherspoon how to organize a fridge and their homes. In 2020, the pair became household names with the launch of their Netflix show Getting Organised with The Home Edit.
Recently, The Home Edit has teamed up with Eggland’s Best to honor National Nutrition Month and share their fridge organizational tips to help promote healthy eating. While labels might be one of their top tips, speaking exclusively with Real Homes The Home Edit warned that getting too specific when using them in a fridge freezer could make it harder to keep things tidy.
Fridge labelling mistake
Labels are a huge part of The Home Edit look and a key part of how Joanna and Clea's tried and tested organization approach works in an area like a fridge.
'Labels are really important for keeping your systems accountable and setting up a set of instructions for everyone in the household, but it's also really important that your labels be kind of broad,' Clea says.
Joanna points out that if you do get too granular with your labels you could end up causing problems for yourself as soon as you come to restock your fridge. 'You don't want to get it so narrow that you ice yourself out of having options when you get home from the grocery store.'
'You don't want to just say ketchup, and have a bin just for that,' she explains. 'You don't want to make it so specific that you have nowhere to go, otherwise the system kind of falls apart.'
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'So instead of just having a label that says cucumbers, you want to have a label that says veggies,' says Clea. 'Instead of having a label that is for ketchup, you want a label that says condiments.'
However, the pair add that there are exceptions to the specific rule if there is a particular item your household simply couldn't live without.
'We do make customized, tailored labels for certain activities in someone's lives,' adds Clea. 'So for example if a family has spaghetti night, or taco night every week. Or has kids and they need to pack kids lunches. You can make, bins specifically for those moments.'
Clea gives the example that her family nearly always has boiled eggs in the fridge as a quick healthy snack. 'Hard-boiled eggs are a staple in our family which is also one of the reasons why I was glad to work with Eggland's. Having a bowl or a container of hard-boiled eggs you can always have a high-protein snack on hand. The kids love it, it allows you to grab something immediately good for you.'
Eggland's Best is giving families the chance to enter the EB Better Family Makeover Sweepstakes competition online from now until April 15 to win $4,500 towards a brand-new family fridge, a virtual consultation with The Home Edit team, and a year supply of Eggland’s Best eggs.
Rebecca Knight is the News Editor on Real Homes. She graduated with a Masters degree in magazine journalism from City, University of London in 2018, before starting her journalism career as a staff writer on women's weekly magazines. She moved into digital journalism and developed an interest in homes and interiors when she joined the Ideal Home website team in 2019. Since then she has written for a range of gardening and interior websites including Town and Country, Homes and Gardens and Living etc. As a flat renter, she is always looking for smart DIY hacks that can be easily removed without annoying her landlord, whilst also helping her save money towards her first home.
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