After lugging heavy bags of groceries through the door, the last thing anyone feels like doing is sorting them by type or expiration date. The more common strategy is stuffing everything into the little refrigerator space available and hoping your fridge doesnt burst.

Trust us giving everything in your fridge a proper place will save you lots of time and money in the long run. Here are a few guiding principles to help you whip your fridge into shape.

Location, location, location!

Some areas of your fridge are colder than others. The bottom shelves of your refrigerator are the coldest, while top shelves are warmer. Professional kitchens prefer to organize their refrigerators by placing perishables at the bottom and safe foods that require no cooking at the top.

To apply this principle to your fridge, place drinks and leftovers on your top shelf and raw meat and poultry at the bottom. This way, you wont risk contamination from meat dripping down. Never put milk or eggs in the refrigerator door, as that is the warmest area of your fridge. Place them on a lower shelf toward the back.

Rotate your groceries.

We waste a staggering amount of food, as in one-third of all food produced for human consumption. To reduce your households food waste, use the FIFO method to sort your groceries: first in, first out. When you get new groceries, push them toward the back and move your old groceries to the front.

This will ensure you eat the older groceries before they go bad and need to be thrown away. The FIFO method will help you get your moneys worth out of last weeks groceries instead of letting the lot go to waste.

Know what goes in the fridge...and what doesnt.

The easiest way to save space in the fridge is to know what exactly goes in it. Dont ever store tomatoes, potatoes or bread in your fridge. Same goes for onions and olive oil. Storing these items in the refrigerator will mar their flavor and spoil their consistency. Moving them into your pantry will free up some much-needed fridge space, allowing you to organize more easily.

If you ever forget these golden rules, refer to the following infographic by PartSelect . It will put you back on the path toward peak refrigerator organization.