The Dollar Tree Item That Leads To A Cleaner And Stylish Fridge

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After running down the list of the best groceries to buy at Dollar Tree, you may be thinking crafty thoughts about how else you can make the ultra-cheap products at this store work for your kitchen. Even though the store has raised prices more than once in recent years, you still can't beat the bang for your buck. We previously discovered how to hack dollar store components for more storage space on our kitchen counters, and how Dollar Tree magazine racks can help organize water bottles. Now we've discovered another kitchen upgrade that can be attained with basically just the change from your car's cupholder: Vinyl placemats for your fridge shelves.

These placemats, which are flexible, durable, and come in a variety of colors, serve a few different purposes in your fridge. First of all, they look good, adding a pop of color to your shelves. Secondly, they act as a barrier against basic spills or leaks that would otherwise have you scrubbing your shelves laboriously — the placemat, on the other hand, can just be thrown in your washer! Thirdly, they can be used as a format for organization — all the condiments on one mat, all the bottles on another, and so forth. They can even be cut down to size to fit in your fridge drawers. Sets of four multicolored vinyl placemats can be found on Amazon or most places that home goods are sold, but we especially like scooping them up at Dollar Tree where they are cheap and plentiful.

You might not normally think much about the aesthetics of your inner fridge, but the idea of beautifying this space isn't entirely without precedent. There's a whole rabbit hole of TikTok fridge organization to fall down, with folks prettily arranging their groceries in clear plastic bins, lazy susans, and/or stacking egg dispensers to display their food visibly and make their fridge look put-together and modern. Individual-serving packets of cheese or yogurt are divided up into drawers, cans of soda are arranged in dispensers, and fruit is washed, cut, and sealed in little totes with lids that snap on satisfyingly. Vinyl place mats are a nice entry into the world of zhuzhing up your fridge, as they cost little and don't require a complete overhaul of your storage, but can add color, texture, and function to your cold storage.

Of course, some viral social media clips veer hard into "fridgescaping" and adorn their fridges with bouquets, framed pictures, and glass tchotchkes that make us wonder exactly how much cooking these folks are actually doing. We don't need our fridges to look like a "Bridgerton" tableau or a forest witch's larder; we just appreciate a clean and uncluttered aesthetic. In comparison to figurines and color-coordinating your whole fridge, putting down some pretty place mats and maybe a bin or two isn't nearly so extra.