The Genius Way To Repurpose Your Fridge Shelf Into A Reusable Organization Tool

Thank goodness fridges come with removable shelves. It makes cleaning them, rearranging the interior space, and replacing them easy. If you find yourself with a glass refrigerator shelf that has minor damage or you find that you just don't need it, you can upcycle it into a handy wipe-off calendar.

This easy repurposing project leaves you with a tool every household could use. Line the back with a piece of paper that you've customized with a blank calendar, and hang it in your household command center so all involved can see and add to it. If the shelf's glass is damaged, only use it if the crack is in an area that you won't be writing on or erasing often. You can use super glue on the glass to keep the crack from spreading further and to bind sharp edges.

Pull off this conversion with a glass refrigerator shelf, a large sheet of paper, a ruler, a pencil, and permanent markers in a few different colors. You'll also need scissors, a glue stick, and picture hangers like these Heavyweight Command Strips from Amazon. Add a stash of dry-erase markers to number the days on the calendar and add appointments and reminders.

Cut your paper to fit over just the glass portion of the shelf, not its frame. Using your ruler and pencil, outline the sections of your calendar. Create an empty section for the month and year and a seven-by-five calendar grid with squares and a thin header marking the days of the week. A section for notes or a to-do list is also helpful. Outline your calendar arrangement in pencil, then go over it with a marker.

Before applying the paper with your calendar layout to the glass, make sure that the backside of the shelf is free of smudges or dirt since you won't be able to clean it after you've glued on the paper. If the shelf isn't in the best shape, you can easily remove scratches from the glass surface with baking soda. Then, cover the face of the paper with glue, and smooth it over the back of the glass surface. Affix the hanging strips to the back of the shelf, sticking them to as much of the frame as possible rather than to the paper for the most secure hold. Hang up your new calendar and put it to use!

Want something less vanilla than a white background for your calendar? Rolls of craft paper come in an array of colors and are easy to cut to fit the shape of your shelf. Try bright shades like yellow, pale green, or baby blue that are pleasant to look at but also light enough to see writing over it. Wrapping paper in a light color and subtle pattern can also add a lot of interest to your calendar, as long as the graphics aren't bold enough to distract from your writing. You could also invert the color scheme by backing your calendar in black or another deep color and using white or pastel markers for both your permanent and temporary markings on the calendar. 

Glass fridge shelves have thin edging around them that act as a frame. Spruce it up with a high-shine finish with a product like Rust-Oleum's Metallic Spray Paint for a stand-out border. The edges also could use some textural trimming. Glue on some ribbon, a few colors of rick-rack, or small figurines to create a quirky theme. Then, keep markers and an eraser handy with an adhesive caddy, like Lumanman's Acrylic Pen Holder, that you can attach to the calendar itself or the wall next to it.