I don't know about you, but I fight a constant battle over the contents of my fridge. Not the interior contents; I've pretty much given up that battle. I'm talking about the landslide of papers, photos, coupons, and reminders that litter the front of the fridge. 
I keep looking at cute message board crafts online and thinking if I just had the right board I could revolutionize our "system" (my euphemism for our mess), but deep down I know that I will never be able to switch to a different way of keeping track of our lives. I'm a visual person, and if it's not right in front of me, it doesn't exist in my world. (Like the doctor's appointment and school deadline that mysteriously slipped by me this week!) So if it's something that needs to be dealt with, looked at, or remembered in any way, it gets plopped on the fridge. And now that I have two little creative people in my life, they make their own contributions to the chaos (in more ways than just the fridge, believe me!).
So, bearing my own weaknesses in mind, and also my semi-compulsive need to live in an organized space, I set out to improve the situation in a way that will still work for me. What I came up with is a fun and easy little magnet craft that anyone can do to spiff up their own fridge.
All you need is a packet of Photo Corners, found in the scrapbooking aisle of any craft store, and a few self-adhesive magnetic strips. (I found these at Walmart.) Here is the easy part:
- Separate one of the magnetic strips from the sheet.
- Measure (I just eyeballed it) the photo corners against the strip, to see how big to cut your pieces.
- Cut the strip in triangles. One diagonal cut, followed by a straight cut, and so on.
- Remove the adhesive backing and stick the magnet to the back of a photo corner.
- Repeat till you have enough corners to put 2-4 on each picture/ paper/ coupon. (Smaller pieces only need two corners, but anything larger than a 4x6 photo probably needs four.
Now the hard part: arranging all your stuff! I made mine into a loose collage so that I can move and add stuff whenever I need to. Indeed, in the two days since I started this project, I've already changed out four pieces. Life moves fast!
My fridge is one of the first things I see when I come into the house, so now instead of accosting me with a huge messy to-do list, it welcomes me with a less chaotic, and prettier, collage of our life. It may be a small thing, but every little bit helps, when you're trying to hang on to your sanity!
The great thing about these magnetic photo corners is that they just slip on and off your photos, so they're a great alternative to pushpins, if you have a metal surface to use them on. They're so quick, easy, and inexpensive to make, and would make a cute little housewarming or hostess gift, if you put a bunch in a dressed up mason jar.
Happy organizing! I'd love to hear from you if this sparks an idea...
normaleverydaylifeblog says
Cute idea! Little changes can feel so good!
Meredith says
Thanks! Most of the big things in life are really made up of the little things, right?
Catarina Alexon says
Agree with you completely about the importance of fridge magnets. Good idea!
Meredith says
Thanks Catarina!
Melanie says
I like that idea and it really would be easy to do! I may try this at home... thanks!
Meredith says
Thanks! It really is easy, and costs less than $5...
Paul Graham says
Hi Meredith. I'm no fan of chaos but I might be a bit over the top on this one as there has been nothing on my fridge door since my son was about 10. Still, one of these years I will probably have Grandchildren and when I do this may be the solution
Meredith says
Thanks Paul, I look forward to the day when I won't have stuff all over my fridge, but I have a suspicion that I might miss it once it's gone...
jacquiegum says
What a terrific idea! Although my current abode has a wood refrigerator door! LOL But I can doing this in sort of a magnetized blackboard fashion at my desk...which looks alarmingly like your before picture! Great stuff!
Meredith says
Yes, Jacquie, I think my desk is next on the list...
Patricia Weber (@patweber) says
It took me about 18 years to get over putting things on the fridge. Even not being in the kitchen right now I can say, I have just 4 things on it - and 2 are getting ready to come off of it. But I have to say, if I was raising a family I LOVE this idea for keeping things so tidy on the refridge door. Thanks for sharing it!
Over from LI group BHB
Meredith says
Thanks Pat! Keeping things tidy is like fighting a never-ending battle at our house! 🙂
Tim says
I am part of the stainless appliance crowd and therefore no magnets. I do have a magnet kiwi on my washing machine though!
Meredith says
I didn't even think of stainless steel! That's all the excuse I need to upgrade my appliances...thanks!
ballnchainz says
This is Jay,
Like you I am a visual person and if I do not see it then it does not exist. My wife used to move papers that I had on my end table and then I would miss appointments. Now she has learned to either tell me where she put it or not touch it at all. great and relatable post
Meredith says
Thanks Jay. I kept trying to move stuff and put it away, but even when I knew where I put it, it was like it just ceased to exist! Oh well, at least this works for now..
tuhinmech says
Wow! Nice Nice! 🙂 I too am a visual person like you and this tendency makes me to download, print and paste notes, flowcharts, quotes in a messy way! I really want to try this but not sure how my mom would react when I will ask her to share the fridge with me... lol
Meredith says
Ha! I know my fridge is my command center, if I had to share it with anyone I'd lose track of everything! Good luck with that... 🙂
Lenie says
My fridge looks very much like yours - I get pictures and cards from my grandchildren I just can't throw away so I constantly need to add more to the point of overlapping them. I think I'll remove all the fridge magnets, buy a small whiteboard to hang over my desk and use your idea for it.
Meredith says
Lenie, it's a beautiful problem to have that your grandchildren are cluttering up your fridge. 🙂 I love the whiteboard idea.
Jeri Walker-Bickett (@JeriWB) says
Great idea. I like to put stuff all over my fridge. Mostly magnets I get as souvenirs when traveling, but it would be fun t add more photos into the mix as well.
Meredith says
Thanks! I love photos that make me smile, mixed in with all the to-do's. My kids have started a campaign to collect a magnet from every state we visit, so those will soon take over, I'm sure.
Susan Cooper/findingourwaynow.com says
I LOVE this idea. I'm off to the store to get some supplies to do just what you did. Mine isn't so much the fridge (that bad enough... LOL), it's my office board. It is a mess and for the same reason as yours. 🙂
Meredith says
Susan, I'm so glad! I hope it's helpful, and I'd love to see pictures when you're done, if you want to share.
Beth Niebuhr says
I have a stainless steel fridge and so it's bare. Now on the other hand, my desk is chaotic.
Meredith says
It seems everyone has a messy space somewhere! Perhaps that's just the sign of a creative mind?
Michele Harvey says
What a creative fridge magnet idea. It makes a big difference. The collage looks great and it's very organized. I hang things up on my fridge sometimes but they often fall off.
Meredith says
Thanks Michele! It's a challenge to find the organization system that works for you. Maybe you just need stronger magnets? 🙂
crystalzakrison says
Great idea. My refrigerator looks like a disperse of confusion right now. You have reminded me to organize my fridge! =)
Meredith says
Oops, sorry! Didn't mean to create more work for people. 🙂 But it feels so good when it's done.
Anna Khan says
This is really a fantastic idea and the fridge look very organised , clean. Just a small thing can change to good.
Good thing about photo corners that I came to know that you mentioned is they can be removed and then can be used on another photo again.
Meredith says
Thanks! Yes, I've already reshuffled most of what's on my fridge again!
Susanna says
Wow! How simple yet so effective! I'm going to get some photo corners and magnetic strips this week - definitely - and organise my messy, messy firdge
Meredith says
Thanks, and good luck! 🙂
Christina says
I was working with photo corners this week while framing my photos for a showcase at a local coffee shop. Such a genius idea to add magnetic strips for the fridge!
I was wondering if you could come up with and idea for using old video tapes as a "frame" or creative way to display photos.
Meredith says
Christina, that's a great idea, let me put some thought into it. Are you talking about the tapes themselves, like VHS? And are you thinking they'd hang on a wall, or sit on a table?
Christina says
Hi Meredith, yes the VHS ones. They have become dinosaurs with the popularity of DVD's. I was wondering how to repurpose them using photos. They could hang on a wall or sit on a table. There's so many ideas - could even be a coaster for cups, although would have to protect the photo in some way (waterproof). It's a fun little idea, ya?
Meredith says
I love it! I'll see what I can come up with...
P-Ann :) says
I have your exact same frig!! That makes me smile! 🙂 So I'm still a little confused - Are the little corner pieces just tiny magnets or are they stuck to the pictures & you are constantly making new ones as you throw old pictures/notes away?
Meredith says
Yay! Is yours as messy as mine? 🙂 The corner pieces are paper photo corners glued to little magnets.Photo corners are how photos used to be attached to photo albums. They're little paper pieces that slip off and on the photos without actually attaching to them. So they're easy to change out whenever you need to, sort of like pulling a photo out of a frame. Once you have enough for all the photos you need at any one time, you never need to make more. You can usually find photo corners in the scrapbook aisle. Let me know if you can't find them and I'll figure out where you can order them.