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The above plastic serving trays are close to what I have, but not exactly the same. I bought a bunch of these at WalMart years ago for the purpose of putting my potted plants & herbs on each tray. That way, if I over-watered a plant, the plastic tray would keep the water from seeping into my carpet. I probably used these trays for a couple of years and then as I grew fewer and fewer plants (the last few years only Basil) I stacked the unused trays and left them in a corner.

I’ve always been unorganized in my refrigerator except for the trays in the refrigerator door and the larger spaces in which I would place my milk and orange juice. And my fridge did get gunky, which I normally ignored. But a few months ago, I suddenly thought, why not see if those plastic trays would fit in my fridge and they fit perfectly. They have a deep lip so that most spills would not spread into the rest of the refrigerator, and two trays fit perfectly, side by side on each level, and one slides out easily without dragging on the other tray.

So, I cleaned out my fridge, for the first time in several years (not perfectly, but a major cleaning for me), and I organized the items in each tray (not perfectly either). Cheeses, sour cream and margarine go in one tray. Left-overs go into the tray beside that tray. Next row down, I have one tray which houses pickles, olives, and even Apple Butter. One bottom tray has most/all of my liquids, such as milk, cranberry & orange juice, half-n-half, and tomato juice when I have it. There is a little confusion as to which liquid item needs to be at the front of the fridge, and sometimes I have to reach far back, but that is because half-n-half needs to be near the front at breakfast for hot tea or coffee. OJ & cranberry juice need to be toward the front when I am making my special juice drink (which is about twice a day). Maybe I want milk, if I have a small blueberry or cherry pie from WalMart. But, I do like an ice cold glass of milk just by itself sometimes.

And, depending upon the size of the Tupperware container, a bottom or mid-level tray is used. I know Mary Ann hates to do dishes, but for me, since I use my dishwasher profusely, I often will “downsize” my storage container as I have less of each left-over. My spaghetti sauce (which I think is delicious) starts out in the quart sized container, but might end up in one of the small containers, like I use for margarine. I also found that if I had left-over noodles, I could mix them with some spaghetti sauce in a single container. Then just heat the whole plastic container in the microwave and voila;-) **I normally use my dishwasher every two days. I am surprised at how quickly my dinner plates fill the bottom rack. But I also go through a bunch of dirty glasses (beer mugs that I bought at the “Hem of His Garment” about 30 years ago. There was a set of six mugs (a classic glass mug, that I have even seen in old movies for the 40s & 50s – Sherlock Holmes in a pub…) that Russ & Deborah donated to the Hem, and I bought them. I’ve broken other glasses and dishes during that 30 years, but not these. They are sturdy though.

I had a set of Libbey Catawba water goblets. I like the shape, and still see something very similar is still for sale at Dollar Tree (more than 30 years). But I mention these glasses, because several years ago, and I do not recall the reason why, but I broke several when washing them in the dishwasher. They are sturdy, and I still wash the 3 that I have left in the dishwasher, and haven’t broken them in the last couple of years. Not sure if I was placing them next to another item.

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But, this also reminds me of my old work horse of a skillet that is a Revere Ware pan from 1978. The old Revere Ware is stamped on the bottom of their skillets, pots & pans with the year that they were manufactured. And even though this skillet has a dark, almost unreadable bottom, when held at the right angle to the light the 78 is definitely readable. 1978. That would have been about three years before mom died. We would have been living at 204 Johnson Blvd., in Jacksonville, NC at the time.

NOTE: I’m pretty sure that if I were married, the 1978 Revere Ware pan would have been discarded years ago, but as an old batchelor, it has proven to be a “damned good pan”.