blame the ketchup

After yesterday’s big revelation from the inside of my fridge, I’m back today with even more news about the coldest appliance in the house. I wasn’t really expecting too many people to care about what was going on inside my refrigerator, but it turned out to be one of my most read blog posts in a while!
Some of my Facebook friends were asking if my fridge was really as clean and organized as it looked in the photo. And of course, the answer is “no!” I had taken everything out of the refrigerator to clean it, and took the photos before I stuffed everything back in. I mean, did you really want to see all of our left-overs, including a half eaten burrito from Chipotle?
The comments reminded me though about my attempts to keep the fridge organized at our old house. I actually labeled all of the compartments on the doors so that I could gently assist the other five people living in this house in putting things away in what is *clearly* the proper location inside the fridge. I have been threatening my family members lately that I’m about to do the same thing now that we’ve moved.
Our children reacted to the refrigerator door labeling system in much the same way that they react to all of the rules and systems I attempt to organize around the house:
The first born read all of the labels carefully and tried to put things away in their proper location.
The second born read all of the labels and then ignored them.
The third born didn’t even notice the labels.
The fourth born can’t read and isn’t tall enough to put anything away. As with most everything around here, she was exempt from trying.
So, one day, the first born was trying to put something away in the refrigerator, and he noticed its spot was taken. I don’t remember exactly what the item was, but it went something like this. He wanted to put the ranch dressing in it’s clearly labeled spot on the shelf, but it was occupied by BBQ sauce. He tried to move the BBQ sauce but its spot was taken by grape jelly. He moved the grape jelly only to find its spot was taken by ice cream topping. When he went to move the ice cream topping, he found the root of the problem.
“It’s ketchup’s fault!” I heard him exclaim from inside the fridge.
“What?!” we all asked.
“I can’t put anything away correctly,” he explained. “It’s ketchup’s fault!”
Someone had misplaced the ketchup, causing a domino effect throughout the doors of the refrigerator.
Now when I go to clean the fridge I often laugh as I think about the poor ketchup. That big bottle really is the root of all of the problems, isn’t it? If it would just stay in its assigned location, it would be so much easier to keep the refrigerator clean.
That brings me to today’s tip. If you are having trouble keeping your refrigerator organized, just do what we do. Blame the ketchup! 😉