Some foods age gracefully, such as wine and cheese. Others, like last night’s casserole, not so much. How do you keep leftovers from getting jammed into the back of your refrigerator and turning into a nasty surprise?

Here’s a simple solution. Designate one shelf or space in your fridge for leftover items. It becomes a visual cue: if there’s food there, you have leftovers that need to be eaten. I swear by this method and it has eliminated this challenge in my own refrigerator.

Use clear storage containers because you can see in without opening the lid. If you have a little more time and energy, consider identifying them with removable labels such as these label pads from Post-It, available at many office supply stores.

Adopting any of these simple steps will save you time and money. You can eat those leftovers instead of wasting them. And, hopefully, you’ll never again have the yucky chore of lifting the lid to a storage container that was jammed in the back of the fridge!

Cathy Brosius is the owner of Arranged Smartly, a home staging and organizing company.  Cathy and her team are working smartly for homeowners and real estate agents throughout the St. Louis region.  She has also been interviewed on KMOV’s Great Day St. Louis, providing tips on staging a home for sale.

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