the only fridgescaping that should be allowed is filling the fridge with beautiful bouncy balls and closing it really quickly so the next person who opens it releases them
I have in my kitchen a bowl that contains a giant rubber spider, which jiggles when people open the drawer. I did this to amuse my friends, but for reasons I don’t fully understand, nobody comes over anymore. 🙃🕷🕸👈
When you mentioned how people might assume automatically that you absolutely hate fridgescaping and would never see any possible pros to doing it, it made me think about why I prefer your content over some others. A big difference is that you are NOT a rage bait channel! The ideas you discuss are level-headed and thought out. You do not just go to a hashtag that will obviously feature overconsumption and yell at the camera about how stupid it all is. You put real effort into giving other creators the benefit of the doubt or at least arguing in good faith when you think they are doing something unnecessary or harmful. As another person pursuing a life that does not include overconsumption where I can help it, your videos are very refreshing and actually help me think about my habits and choices rather than just getting my blood pumping and making me feel holier-than-thou towards random people online. ❤
Your comment seriously made my day!!!! I sometimes feel too harsh or critical on people, or that I could be kinder. Perhaps there is a time and a place for that, but I do try to give people the benefit of the doubt when possible and I appreciate you seeing this so much. Thank you 💕
For real, I ended up unfollowing a lot of commentary channels because all all the rage bait and lack of nuance was starting to drain my joy. The fact that Shawna is one of the few that I’ve kept says a lot.
Anyone can label any hobby as frivolous or useless. That is why it is a hobby, we all need something that we enjoy that is not considered work or useful.
That’s true, but there’s a limit. People’s hobbies can be measured scientifically for the mental and physical benefits they provide. For example, dancing has been proven to be the best exercise for seniors, because it has layers of benefits. It is objectively better than walking on a treadmill at home. Learning a language or an instrument is better for your brain than watching the same 3 movies over and over again. Fridgescaping can be creative, that’s good for you. If you’re already stuck at home it’s great. If it’s instead of going to dance class it’s probably not.
I agree! I went 30+ years without having a true hobby because every "hobby" I picked up throughout the years I monetized (through need for extra income). I loved thrifting, I then started reselling. I loved organizing, I then started organizing for others as a side gig. Etc etc etc... The love for all these things left as soon as money got involved. A few years ago I got a Cricut and swore to myself I'd never sell anything I make with it... and I finally stuck to my word. I love crafting. I make so many gifts, my home decor, clothes, etc etc. Every time someone offers me money to make them something or tells me I need to sell whatever thing I made that day... nope. I think it's super important for everyone to have a true hobby that they actually enjoy doing. Whether it's daily, weekly or one a month we all need something to just fully enjoy to ourselves, and the "useless" ones are usually the best ones!
Hi I am on replay.My grandmother used to do this, there was no title attached at that time. She would use fabric to line some of the shelves because she did not want then to get damaged. She used bowls for food storage and decanted milk into jugs,and juice in to datacenters. She would but celery and green onions in water with salt .Olives were placed in bowls and so was fruit and vegetables. She also had fresh flowers from her garden in the fridge so she could swap out the ones in vases after they wilted. She did have crosses in the fridge ,she was a true catholic women . To me growing up it was just a fridge with storage for food. I will say it was also very common look for many of my relatives to do.Just my 2 cents "What was once so common practice as now come full circle". Really enjoyed this video made me think of Michelina today.
@@caseyc2497yeah, the element of fridgescaping that’s usually criticized and novel is the storing and purchasing of decoration specifically for the fridge. The decanting, flowers, and liners could be considered a part of fridge scaping, but not the main problem with fridgescaping. Usually decanting is criticized for removing information (expiry and nutritional information), but is probably fine if using the decanted materials reasonably quickly and with containers that serve some utility (such as being nicer to touch or prettier). The flowers have a reason to be stored in there, and the liners are partially for a practical purpose. I don’t think it’d be bad if it was fridgescaping, but what that person’s grandma did seems to not have a lot of the criticized/problematic aspects of fridgescaping
I love that you highlighted the subtle (or not so subtle) relation of sexism to fridgescaping as a domestic "frivolous and silly" hobby for women. It could be compared to a perfectly curated garage space with signs, posters, and wheels attached to the wall.
I had never heard of fridgescaping, but I LOVE it. Due to mental health issues, I struggle to leave the house. In the last couple of years, I've started paying more attention to my surroundings, so making my house nice and cosy and more of a home has become more important to me. When my son leaves home and his food is no longer in the fridge, I can definitely see me doing it. Partly because I won't need all that room for food, so I'll have room to do it. Plus, it will be one of those things that is just for me, only I'll know it's there, which will make me giggle, and it will bring me so much joy each time I open the fridge. I'm so going to do this 😍
The only thing that I don't like about fridgescaping is that it looks like, to me, there isn't enough room for the actual food that it's intended to store and keep fresh. But at the same time you make some valid points about how fridgescaping is also a valid hobby and how it can be used to promote using what you have.
yeah, I think in some cases the decor can get in the way and take up space from food storage. I think on that note alone it would be impractical for some people
I think this is honestly a pretty neutral thing/hobby. I can totally see how this could make someone more excited to eat or cook, and also just from a consumption standpoint having less room in your fridge for food if you don’t NEED the amount of food that your fridge can hold, it fills up extra space and makes it so you’re not just buying more food to fill empty space. Honestly for me this would also make me want to be more mindful about the foods I buy! I wouldn’t want to fill a beautiful space with things that aren’t good for me so for my own brain and how I think about things I can see this as being helpful and making me more conscious about my food habits and keeping things tidy and kept.
While firdgescaping isn't practical for my current lifestyle, I love the idea of creating beauty in the mundane spaces. Plus, I was always a sucker for a diorama in those grade school projects!. I'm going to figure out something cool I can do with what I have around the house.
While they probably keep the fridge open for too long while filming, a fuller fridge is more energy efficient. Items hold cold better than air, so the fridge doesn't work as hard. On that note, if you ever discuss minifridges again i highly recommend Technology Connections video on those - the skincare fridges are close to using as much energy as a fullsize fridge
At first, I think it captured interest because it is SO absurd . . . but also SO IN TUNE with the ~ aesthetic ~ and themed lifestyle that social media culture promotes. A confluence of the absurdity and the beauty was attuned to the zeitgeist. From what I've seen, the idea isn't that it is supposed to be an every day fridge solution, but rather more along the lines of the still life tradition in art. I have my BFA and this is exactly the kind of thing art students love. A little fun. A little edgy. A little bit commenting on larger societal issues. Absurdist still life. After the original artist created it, though, it could easily descend to become another content-for-content's-sake social media genre. You're absolutely right that it's not the same as other trends, like flavored ice for example, bc it doesn't REQUIRE purchases to participate, and it does not seem to be an ad for storage, decor, etc. In general, it's much more healthy as a creative outlet than direct-shopping related accounts. I vote that's it's more art than anything, and is actually pretty clever and fun.
TLDR: I don't think it's meant to be useful/functional; it's in the still life tradition, with an absurdist twist because it is in an unexpected location where things like framed photos would never be. Think Meret Oppenheim (the furry teacup) or the "readymade" art movement
Hi ! The supermarket is the only place where a frigdescaping concept seems to be useful . These tiktokers should have a fridge with glass doors to admire the whole food arrangement. Greetings from Paris, really enjoy your vlogs.
As someone who recently cleaned out her insanely cluttered, messy, and chock-full-of-wasted-food fridge, I definitely appreciate fridgescaping. That one that was decorated with traditional Mexican arts and crafts? Straight up my alley. It looks so vibrant and inviting. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with a fridgescape; I share my fridge with three other adults. But for the right person (and that’s the kicker, right? Not everything is made for everyone and if it’s not for you, there’s no reason-in most cases-to diss the thing), it’s a beautiful way to keep their fridge clean and organized. Hats off to the creatives out there! Enjoy your beautiful fridges!
As an avid gardener, i found it interesting that you classified it as a hobby that is heavily focused on aesthetics.. There are definitely people who do it for people ornamental gardens, most people I know do it for food, conservation (native plants and pollinator gardens), or just because they find peace connecting with nature. I know so many gardeners with messy gardens lol
Honestly, I love it. I enjoy seeing what kind of creativity people display with it. I like the concept of being mindful about what your fridge looks like and what is inside of it. Plus it promotes keeping a clean and organized environment. My fridge is always a mess. And I avoid it a lot because I don’t want to deal with it. And when I make the effort to make things pretty it makes me want to use it. So I can definitely see the value of fridgescaping.
Just concerned about the social medianess of it encouraging: wasted electricity with the door(s) being opened for longer than intended periods (if this was in a cabinet with no glass to the door, no electricity wasted there), food spoilage due to the door(s) being opened for longer than the refrigerator's design intended, and how this can spiral into buying new things because it's a new season, a new month, a new week, the current holiday 😵💫 I understand that doesn't seem to have been the original intent, but with social media, I think we can all bet money that's where it's gonna end up. 😢
Really don't know where folk get the energy/will to add all this extra stuff to food storage. Each to their own, I suppose. I'd be worried about lack of air circulation in some of those fridges - they look pretty packed. Shawna - I'd be interested in your take on the Chinese 3 second seller phenomenon. Edvasian covered it recently.
Part of my brain understands how this could help with people having difficulties getting excited around eating and cooking. But I'm not gonna lie, most of me is screaming WHAT IN THE HELL over and over again
I feel your scream, because something is screaming inside me too) It is just...not right. I could never. I'm not judging other people doing it though. Their fridges are not my business for sure 😅
I think fridgescaping has the same potential for overconsumption that any hobby does. For example i crochet and knit, i'm personally careful to only buy yarn i know i'll use but there are many people who go overboard and end up with 20-100+ skeins of unused yarn purely because it's pretty or they saw someone else use that yarn. It sounds like fridge scaping could be cool as an easy eay to make your food more interesting or exciting. Maybe instead if switching the themes every two weeks you just do it 4 times- one for each season- and add one or two little items for holidays. Maybe if you struggle with appetite or adhd having everything in a pretty jar that you want to go look at could help you eat healthier/eat food before it goes bad. If i had enough energy i think fridge scaping could be a cool hobby for me honestly. But i also am a lot less prone to overcosunption than someone who might have a shopping addiction. Beautifying your life can be good and fulfilling, hobbies can be good and fuffiling. But it's important that we keep our hobby purchases reasonable. A thirfted piture frame,table cloth, and vase is totally reasonable in my opinion. My mom really enjoys decorating tables for holidays but she also has reasonable spending habits relating to it. The problem isn't the hobby, it's our mindset. You can enjoy beauty and aesthetics without purchasing $200+ of junk. I think fridgescpaing can be a nice way to encourage people to just have fun with what you already have. Or even borrow from your grandparents because i'm sure many of us have grandparents with way too much decor in boxes lol
I grew up with a traditional housewife mother and I have nothing but respect for everything they do! She gardens to grow her own produce, makes meals from scratch and kept a clean kid friendly environment that made me feel safe growing up! I also learned how to knit, sew, and crochet from the women of my family and love those hobbies! The difference I think for me is that those have a purpose to take care of those around you! My great grandmother made us blankets to keep us warm, my grandmother grew certain plants to keep away pest. Most things that are seen as women’s work are actually steeped in the tradition of using what you have and prolonging something’s usefulness. With the fridgescaping i can get it to a degree! My family will use old bowls and mugs to place things in the fridge instead of buying wasteful containers. My understanding ends with the commercialized themes and the wasted time that could have been spend doing one of the many other beneficial so called woman’s tasks.
Fridge scaping makes me so uncomfortable because of mold! There are so many crevices and fabrics etc id get so worried about mold and food tasting weird
Thanks for posting, Shawna! When you were talking about the “hobby horse” situation, it reminded me of how that’s part of how the term “hobby” became coined in the first place. If “hobbies” weren’t somewhat stupid to some people, would they still be hobbies, or just work? As a knitted, a whole form of commercialization in the knitting world is the “project bag” and some popular knittoubers have to tell you about every single project bag… I feel that any hobby can be more and more commercialized if someone is desperate enough for it to be. I think that fridgescaping as a “hobby” isn’t dumb, especially for people who know they struggle with food and want to develop their relationship with food in a better way. It’s important not to disregard the fact that a lot of people struggle with their relationship with food… It is really interesting that back when people were fighting for hobbies and free time, they thought that the future would include a lot more free time for people, justifying that for the reason hobbies needed to be included in the curriculum. It’s hard to make things like Amazon and hyper consumerism into a “job” and the moral impact of all that is definitely scary.
I really appreciate you covering things like this that could easily be mistaken at first glance as overconsumption. I think its super easy to get into the mindset that any hobby that requires buying things equates to overconsumption.
I appreciate your take on this! I haven't heard of this idea, before. When you put on a lens of it being artful and getting creative, it makes sense. Someone who likes design might not have a garden/lawn, or not have the time/financial standing to take on redecorating a room. A fridge is a smaller canvas. If this makes someone happy, then I don't see the issue. Why would I judge, when I could spend the same 5hrs making a minecraft or sims build? People think games are dumb, too, but anything can be a creative outlet. We shouldn't automatically jump to dismissing whimsy in adulthood. People do changing-themes in their windows, porches, bathrooms, why not the fridge?
I actually really love this concept & will be incorporating it into my life! I have all these pretty dishes, vases and containers that need a home; the fridge will do fine!
In order to fridgescape, I'd have to buy a fridge bigger than I need so I had more room than just what I need to store my food. Gardening, on the other hand, makes food that I don't need to buy.
The only useful thing I can take away from this trend is putting a basket in my fridge for my fresh produce, rather than shoving it away in the bottom drawer where it will turn into cauliflower and tomato soup because I forget it's in there. As for putting not-food things into the fridge - other than packaging - no. I'd be so annoyed trying to get the hot sauce or butter and knocking over the aesthetic vase with rosebud. Or knocking one of those heavy knick-knacks over and cracking my glass shelves. All that extra not-food stuff could also reduce the fridge's ability to keep food cold, which is a health concern.
I wouldn't call it "beautifying" more like junkifying! I don't see produce stored properly and it will spoil much quicker than if it were put in the correct bins and containers. It seems some people think that because they buy artfully placed produce at the store, that that's how apples, oranges, etc were meant to be optimally stored. Which is very far from the truth. And then there is the matter of how you keep this beast looking "beautiful" when more than one person is dealing with it! Or how many of the knick knacks will be knocked over or out of the fridge when others are rummaging through it! Just one more thing to be constantly worrying about! That being said, as long as the fridgescaper doesn't have a problem constantly arranging and tidying up the refrigerator then it is pretty harmless. But I can think of a million better ways to spend my time than tarting up my refrigerator! Great video Shawna!
To be honest. The pricier groceries get, my fridge has unintentionally taken on a minimalist aesthetic. There is plenty of room in there for absolutely useless stuff related to a refrigerator.
18:39 misogyny is such an interesting point. A lot of these “women’s hobbies” shown online are called wasteful and they get comments like “the world is burning”. Meanwhile it’s a known fact that crypto mining and the NFT projects are male dominated “hobbies” and take extreme amounts of energy and shorten the lifespans of the computers used for the mining. But that is rarely discussed issue with those fields. I think the hobbies of women seem more wasteful because it’s physical items
29:53 he is right. I am poor 😂 I can barely fit my groceries in my tiny fridge. I feel like this trend is for people with big expensive fridges. Not us with the frosty apartment fridge
It's so weird cause my biggest (and only tbh) concern is the fact that fridges are very moist places and people are putting books in them which will 100% destroy the book and create mold which will then spread to the food and most likely be damaging to the person's health...
@shawnaripari the storing things in pretty vases and what not, I can get past. The picture frames and lights etc, I just can't imagine adding that much more of a hassle to your life. But I have 2 kids and ADHD so it's just giving me anxiety 😂
If someone did this 100 years ago, they would be sectioned. I think some people have far too much time on their hands, plus they must have MASSIVE fridges. I can't fit my normal food in mine, let alone adding flowers and ornaments, etc. I think we are running out of ideas for things to occupy our time and for the next craze to go viral! Also, I totally agree with look at things that are going on in the world and some people are decorating their fridges...what is going on!
It’s almost like making your fridge into a functional altar, in a spiritual way this makes sense with the concept of offerings and consuming imbued food.
i just feel like this is so impractical. it would be so hard to grab the things you need without knocking a bunch of crap off those shelves. i don’t get why a fridge of all things…why not an area of your home that people will actually see and doesn’t impede your daily life?
Fridgescaping for TikTok or other social media is a form of ephemeral art. I think that just contributes to it being conceived as frivolous. And yes, it is a privilege to have the time alone to do it. (Reminder to the “we all have 24 hours in a day” lot: Beyoncé doesn’t have to produce eight ours a day with a commute on either side of that to have income and can outsource a lot of the more mundane tasks.) As a knitter who follows other knitters, I can tell you that often that commercialization / consumption problem often comes directly from the audience. There are ALWAYS comments on knitters’ videos that they should sell whatever they knit as a business opportunity. I get the same in person. The fact is that nobody could afford the socks I’m knitting once materials and a living wage are accounted for. If they can’t get you to sell them the finished product and someone wants to try your art/craft/hobby they want you to put together a kit for them to buy. (Which is why we seem to have companies popping up all over to sell shitty knitting kits, I suppose.) I can totally see setting up a storefront if she bought some things for a specific fridgescape, just to get people off her back. As a feminist, I fully support women (all women, not cis-het white women) making whatever choice about occupation makes them happy, provided they have equal access to resources. We need to remember, though, that *traditionally* wives were the wards of their husbands and ended up in horrible abuse situations, in an asylum, or on the street if they didn’t conform to their husbands’ wishes. They literally had no access to resources on their own. It was only during my lifetime (1974, nearly a decade after the Civil Rights Act) that women (in the US) were finally able to have their own bank accounts without permission from their husbands and I do take exception to the “trad wives” making vapid, decorative, and servile look aspirational to other young women because they are romanticizing a return to men’s complete control in relationships, a tradition with ramifications they seem wholly ignorant of. That is not the same as being a homemaker, it’s just a recipe for abuse with no way out.
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” People… the emperor has no clothes! Things have become so much of a distraction and we constantly feel the need to escape that these are the results.
Wildly interesting video! I feel like I wouldn’t even know where to start in response as I had a continuous stream of commentary as it went along, but I will say this is one of my favorites takes I’ve seen so far. It was so well thought out and you’ve made so many good points. It was also practical and neutral, which I appreciate. My fridgescaping journey has been an absolutely wild ride between the unexpected interest and the genuine benefits it’s had for my health that have been genuinely life changing. Daily I am on a social media rollercoaster oscillating between support and hate. Who knew a decorated fridge could be so polarizing? Anyway, this was a breath of fresh air.
I have trouble with it as a kneejerk reaction because vintage goods can have dangerous chemicals you don't want in contact with food. Beyond that so much used is not easy to sanitize susceptible to mold and would thus promote spoilage of fresh fruit and veg.
I had never heard of this until your video. I thought it was just aesthetically organizing a fridge but wow that goes way beyond. I can see the draw it would have on people who take pride in their home, love decorating, love flowers, love a theme. And I can see it lending itself to purchasing secondhand items or making use of unused items around the home. Who cares if it’s frivolous to others as long as you’re not creating unnecessary waste, or spending unnecessary amounts of money to make your space beautiful. I couldn’t be bothered with this, but that’s just how I am and I’m sure I do lots of things other people think is a waste of time but I enjoy it so who cares.
I don't really like the idea of people standing with their fridge doors open for ages while they fuss around arranging everything. It uses lots of extra electricity trying to chill the whole kitchen to 4C and is not great for food safety as everything inside warms up.
While I think fridgescaping can be kind of cute, the biggest thing that bothers me about it is when people use antique or one-of-a-kind items (like original photos) that can't withstand the humidity of a refrigerator. Or when it's so packed the air can't circulate properly which can lead to food waste and unsafe food storage.
Never head of fridgescaping before. The horse in the fridge got me. If this video didn't explain this is a hobby I would have thought dementia. Reminds me of my great aunt placing the raw chicken "back" in the toilet instead of back in the fridge. I genuinely think this is why people find it interesting. The alarm bells ring in the head that something is off. Personally I do believe the fridgescapers should definitely do what makes them happy. No qualms with people enjoying their own hobbies. Like when I'm stressed I tend to clean and organize. If someone destresses by fridgescaping, all to it. I do also worry about the mental health of everyone though. Btw, honestly most impressed with the fridge scapers putting themselves out there on the internet. The internet is brutal to put such an intimate hobby. Most people have weird hobbies and funky things they do at home. Or if they didn't before the pandemic, surely they have one now. Just not many put it out there.
I don’t have a problem with fridgescaping. I don’t have any room in my fridge and freezer for anything but food nor do I want to spend my time that way, so I won’t be doing it myself.
Shawna, I hope you read this. ☺Thank you for posting your content, the past week for me has been quite a challenge for me and your videos help keep me grounded, your perspective and calm videos are relaxing for me. Your videos help me when I feel the urge to shop! 🙈I love your insightful commentary and just how calm your videos are, too many videos online now are full of loud noises and animations. Thanks girl💕💕
thank you so much!! I'm so glad you enjoy my content and find it helpful and I'm glad my videos were there for you when you needed them. Thank you for being here 💕
My issues with fridge scaping is that it just promotes people to buy more unnecessary things. Having cute bowls and glassware is super fine and something I'm probably gonna do when I move but flowers and picture frames? Seasonal themes? Unnecessary. I did see someone mention how this was an example of classism because women who have time and money can afford to do this and it's just the modern day "white fridge is for poor people"
This is the kind of thing that sets off my autism in a bad way. (That being said, I have the brutalist “function over form” autism that makes me bang my head on a wall when I accidentally hear a nail tapping MSR video, not the cute manic pixie dream girl, aesthetic makeup autism) The amount of energy wasted having a fridge open for FIVE HOURS to position a picture frame in a fridge is just infuriating. Tablescape doesn’t do that. (And gardening also doesn’t have to be aesthetic. I have a “survival garden”’and I want to make an urban food forest eventually.) z
I think the "food as a luxury good" argument is really interesting. I still feel like it's an extremely middle-class reaction to that concept though, because I can't see truly poor families or individuals, for whom food really is difficult to afford, doing something like this. I think romanticizing cooking is much more productive and relatable than romanticizing/aestheticizing ingredient storage.
The hobbit fridge feels like how I use my produce from my vegetable garden. Last week we made some garlic butter pasta with basil that I had picked from our plot. We had chopped a big bush and put it in a jar for a week to enjoy the aesthetic before we made the dish. Besides buying the basil plant and the ingredients to make the meal, the jar was something I already had and we were able to enjoy the beauty of our food for a week before eating it. It smelt so good in our kitchen so I didn’t have to burn candles or buy flowers to get the same effect.
I love Shabaz! As a New Zealander, I love his dry British sense of humour, His ice restock videos are hilarious too. He's actually a chemistry teacher as well as a comedian/social commentator. I also reserve the right to call Hobby Horse racing stupid!
@@BrigitteDiessl Ball-y ice in all shapes and sizes, skinny fruity ice, sparkly butterfly ice... Can't put them all in the same container, though. What are you? Brand new?
@@BrigitteDiessl Oh, no, not you! It's just the sort of stuff that Shabazz says in his videos about people making fancy ice to refill their ice drawers/ freezers with. I am part German, but the name is more just because I needed a name for YT and I am fond of lebkuchen cookies
@@LMvonLebkuchen I'm half Austrian (my Dad is Austrian.) I love Lebkuchen too. I took my kids (27F and 20M) to Austria for Christmas last year. The Christmas markets are magic. I make Kipferl every year. They are great because they literally last for months in an airtight container. They're really easy, too. I just about broke my back ,today, lugging all the Christmas baking ingredients home from the supermarket. I live in entirely the wrong place to do a lot of baking at Christmas time. I'm in New Zealand and it's summer time at Christmas. I should be stocking my fridge with bally berry ice!!! Next year we're going to Austria again in August to enjoy their summer.
The first time I saw one of these videos I thought people were decorating their fridges because they were bare. Groceries are expensive, I can see decorating your fridge with non-food items for that reason, especially if it's stuff you already have around the house. That said, I wouldn't want anything I did have in there to spoil while rearranging. To each their own.
I work on autopilot in the morning so idea of having to move something to get to the milk in the morning fills me with horror - but it does make me want to tidy my fridge and so it’s not all bad.
It's stupid to decorate my refrigerator because it barely has food in it. I would rather buy clothes, makeup, shoes, handbags, and boots. Or home decor.
I... surprisingly don't completely hate this. Am I going to actively do it? Nope. But I also have a gluttony of decorative bowls and stuff I inherited just collecting dust in a closet. I don't know why I never thought to use some of these bowls to corral bits and bobs in the fridge that also just happens to look pretty.
21:54 is the candle lit in the fridge ?!?! just doesn’t look like a fake flame to me lol i get the idea of making things more beautiful, but i feel like with the fridge it’s “tucked away” like folks don’t do this for cabinets or things like that. point is to be displayed. i get doing small things like nice organizing stuff, maybe colorful or patterned self liners. i think bc it takes away functionality (in the form of space) of something so purely for function (if you want to decorate it there is the outside for it) i get it for food waste, but general organizing also does it, i just don’t get decorations or stuff like that. plus that fridge is being open way too long imo lol
My grandmother used to re-theme her entire house near monthly, she used the same stuff year to year, every holiday was treated like Christmas, different holiday stuff on every flat surface, I still have a few of her little Easter bunny sets. This was considered part of 'good home making' these scapes feels a bit like a smaller more manageable version of that, maybe some ladies are trying to reclaim a little piece of the comfort of living in a well managed house, which could be much less expensive simply because its a smaller space. My real critique lies more in the fact that it is a refrigerator, having the door open long enough to do it. I think I'd feel better about pantry or cupboard scaping, same benefit of a smaller more contained space most people have without the refriduration issue. On the food scarcity thing, I have personally put non-food items in my fridge just to curb the gut drop out of opening an empty fridge.
humans have a knack for making food beautiful. like even if you isolate it from the consumerist hellscape we just like eating beautiful food in beautiful places
Growing up in Australia in the days of no air conditioning, and sometimes 40°C weather in summer, getting something out of the fridge was the stuff of 'hurry up and shut the bloody door'. Id have got in trouble for doing this then. Now the beeper goes off after 30 seconds of a door open, which would do my head in, if i had to repeatedly listen to it over the course of a couple of hours.
The first example video from the main creator you mentioned is just like an organized fridge with a little more details added. While these look cute on a video I can’t imagine functionally using this kind of fridge - having to dodge little mini flower vases and picture frames each time I want to grab a jar or some food?! I would literally just not eat lmao. There’s an idea in decluttering called “reducing friction” so you reduce the steps needed to get a thing to use it, and this just seems like it increases friction. But then again my ADHD brain just sees this as a nightmare where the actual food is being hidden by pretty decor pieces. I’d open that fridge 3 months later and find rotting vegetables in a basket because it was stuffed behind a vase 😢 very pretty to look at and I value your ideas about art and aesthetics but it’s a no for me 😭
How does anyone with a family not need their whole refrigerator for food? To me this is more of an attention getting hobby than art. Art is subjective, and like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. I still have many questions. As there appears to be little room for food in these refrigerators, are these extra appliances just used for the scraping? Practically speaking this makes no sense for the use of one of the most expensive appliances people own. Thrifting items has nothing to do with being responsible consumers. Have we not already seen enough huge thrift hauls? The influencer you referenced is already on that slippery slope of now scraping based on seasonal themes. This is leading nowhere good as regards conspicuous consumption. If you are buying enough healthy food for a family to last a week then you don’t have room for scraping with flowers and picture frames. What bacteria and other germs are those wood frames and vintage products introducing into what should be a clean and healthy environment for your foodstuffs. We can’t buy a family of 4 two gallons of milk for a couple of weeks because we need room for fancy bowls and flowers. Where is the concern for nutrition? Evaluate the contents of these fridge scapes more closely and you will see there is not much nutritional value there. That leads me to believe that perhaps a few of these creators have dedicated refrigerators just for scraping. You come down pretty hard on the fridge organizers but at least there is a nutritious supply of food for a family there. These can send bad signals to people wanting to emulate the scrapers. Just my opinion. Everyone can do what they want.
I agree that this is a mostly harmless hobby that people are weirdly worked up about? It's not my thing, but a lot of other people's interests aren't - it doesn't mean I'm right and they're wrong. I also don't know if the "this is for rich people" critique holds up - I'd argue that a refrigerator full of kitsch is the exact opposite of how rich people keep theirs (likely kept immaculate by staff). But also, is it that weird if someone spent a half-hour fridgescaping instead of say, scrolling TikTok? I hate when people on social media act like it's praxis to knock something that's relatively accessible (you could fridgescape with a couple of things from Dollar Tree if you really wanted to) because they personally don't like it.
Other than maybe putting a dead & not worth repairing refrigerator to a use that isn't recycling (or heaven forbid landfill material), I don't think I understand fridgescaping. I do some fridge organization with the bins I can see through so my fresh foods don't spoil before I can use or eat them (Americans throw out ~40% of their food which is really problematic in terms of waste)
I see how fridgescaping is a way to romantisice the food in the fridge which could be helpful for some people. I have never fridge scaped or decanted things for the aesthetic of the fridge but i could imagine if I fridge scaped I would be able to remember whats in there better. In my case my fridge is large and mostly empty, so its less likely to cause problems like food hiding behind a decoration and rotting. However i wont be trying fridgescaping because i can't be bothered.
the only fridgescaping that should be allowed is filling the fridge with beautiful bouncy balls and closing it really quickly so the next person who opens it releases them
Lol bouncy balls everywhere 🏀🏀🏀
immediately yes
Microdosing this by playing extreme Tetris with my Tupperware cabinet 😂
@@hayleypflug7384 UNDERRATED REPLY omg microdosinggg I'm dead
I have in my kitchen a bowl that contains a giant rubber spider, which jiggles when people open the drawer. I did this to amuse my friends, but for reasons I don’t fully understand, nobody comes over anymore. 🙃🕷🕸👈
When you mentioned how people might assume automatically that you absolutely hate fridgescaping and would never see any possible pros to doing it, it made me think about why I prefer your content over some others. A big difference is that you are NOT a rage bait channel! The ideas you discuss are level-headed and thought out. You do not just go to a hashtag that will obviously feature overconsumption and yell at the camera about how stupid it all is. You put real effort into giving other creators the benefit of the doubt or at least arguing in good faith when you think they are doing something unnecessary or harmful. As another person pursuing a life that does not include overconsumption where I can help it, your videos are very refreshing and actually help me think about my habits and choices rather than just getting my blood pumping and making me feel holier-than-thou towards random people online. ❤
Your comment seriously made my day!!!! I sometimes feel too harsh or critical on people, or that I could be kinder. Perhaps there is a time and a place for that, but I do try to give people the benefit of the doubt when possible and I appreciate you seeing this so much. Thank you 💕
This and no sponsors. I’m sure she gets offers but I love that there’s nothing being advertised because it goes against what she talks about.
For real, I ended up unfollowing a lot of commentary channels because all all the rage bait and lack of nuance was starting to drain my joy. The fact that Shawna is one of the few that I’ve kept says a lot.
Totally agree. I’ve stopped watching some others because they ignore nuance, probably for the sake of stirring up shock and drama for views.
Anyone can label any hobby as frivolous or useless. That is why it is a hobby, we all need something that we enjoy that is not considered work or useful.
I don’t think anyone who isnt a content creator is doing this as a hobby.
@@CampingforCool41 maybe they are maybe they are not, some people try to make money from their hobbies all the time, it's kind of a grey area.
That’s true, but there’s a limit. People’s hobbies can be measured scientifically for the mental and physical benefits they provide. For example, dancing has been proven to be the best exercise for seniors, because it has layers of benefits. It is objectively better than walking on a treadmill at home.
Learning a language or an instrument is better for your brain than watching the same 3 movies over and over again. Fridgescaping can be creative, that’s good for you. If you’re already stuck at home it’s great. If it’s instead of going to dance class it’s probably not.
I agree! I went 30+ years without having a true hobby because every "hobby" I picked up throughout the years I monetized (through need for extra income). I loved thrifting, I then started reselling. I loved organizing, I then started organizing for others as a side gig. Etc etc etc... The love for all these things left as soon as money got involved. A few years ago I got a Cricut and swore to myself I'd never sell anything I make with it... and I finally stuck to my word. I love crafting. I make so many gifts, my home decor, clothes, etc etc. Every time someone offers me money to make them something or tells me I need to sell whatever thing I made that day... nope. I think it's super important for everyone to have a true hobby that they actually enjoy doing. Whether it's daily, weekly or one a month we all need something to just fully enjoy to ourselves, and the "useless" ones are usually the best ones!
Hi I am on replay.My grandmother used to do this, there was no title attached at that time. She would use fabric to line some of the shelves because she did not want then to get damaged. She used bowls for food storage and decanted milk into jugs,and juice in to datacenters. She would but celery and green onions in water with salt .Olives were placed in bowls and so was fruit and vegetables. She also had fresh flowers from her garden in the fridge so she could swap out the ones in vases after they wilted. She did have crosses in the fridge ,she was a true catholic women . To me growing up it was just a fridge with storage for food. I will say it was also very common look for many of my relatives to do.Just my 2 cents "What was once so common practice as now come full circle". Really enjoyed this video made me think of Michelina today.
Yes, Pyrex used to make pretty fridge food storage containers in the 50’s/60’s to help beautify & organize fridges 😅😊
The vast majority of what your grandmother was doing was storage/organization, not "fridgescaping". Only the flowers was really "fridgescaping".
@@caseyc2497yeah, the element of fridgescaping that’s usually criticized and novel is the storing and purchasing of decoration specifically for the fridge.
The decanting, flowers, and liners could be considered a part of fridge scaping, but not the main problem with fridgescaping. Usually decanting is criticized for removing information (expiry and nutritional information), but is probably fine if using the decanted materials reasonably quickly and with containers that serve some utility (such as being nicer to touch or prettier). The flowers have a reason to be stored in there, and the liners are partially for a practical purpose.
I don’t think it’d be bad if it was fridgescaping, but what that person’s grandma did seems to not have a lot of the criticized/problematic aspects of fridgescaping
I love that you highlighted the subtle (or not so subtle) relation of sexism to fridgescaping as a domestic "frivolous and silly" hobby for women. It could be compared to a perfectly curated garage space with signs, posters, and wheels attached to the wall.
I had never heard of fridgescaping, but I LOVE it. Due to mental health issues, I struggle to leave the house. In the last couple of years, I've started paying more attention to my surroundings, so making my house nice and cosy and more of a home has become more important to me. When my son leaves home and his food is no longer in the fridge, I can definitely see me doing it. Partly because I won't need all that room for food, so I'll have room to do it. Plus, it will be one of those things that is just for me, only I'll know it's there, which will make me giggle, and it will bring me so much joy each time I open the fridge. I'm so going to do this 😍
The only thing that I don't like about fridgescaping is that it looks like, to me, there isn't enough room for the actual food that it's intended to store and keep fresh. But at the same time you make some valid points about how fridgescaping is also a valid hobby and how it can be used to promote using what you have.
yeah, I think in some cases the decor can get in the way and take up space from food storage. I think on that note alone it would be impractical for some people
One comment I saw on a different video was about how this would make their fridge look more full when they cannot afford to regularly fill it.
@@RachelAnnPotter hey thanks for making this comment. I wouldn't have thought of this, but I can see how this COULD be a motivator🙏
"Redecorating her fridge is part of her job" is peak 2024 TikTok.
I think this is honestly a pretty neutral thing/hobby. I can totally see how this could make someone more excited to eat or cook, and also just from a consumption standpoint having less room in your fridge for food if you don’t NEED the amount of food that your fridge can hold, it fills up extra space and makes it so you’re not just buying more food to fill empty space. Honestly for me this would also make me want to be more mindful about the foods I buy! I wouldn’t want to fill a beautiful space with things that aren’t good for me so for my own brain and how I think about things I can see this as being helpful and making me more conscious about my food habits and keeping things tidy and kept.
On a positive note, the creativity of humans is amazing!
While firdgescaping isn't practical for my current lifestyle, I love the idea of creating beauty in the mundane spaces. Plus, I was always a sucker for a diorama in those grade school projects!. I'm going to figure out something cool I can do with what I have around the house.
While they probably keep the fridge open for too long while filming, a fuller fridge is more energy efficient. Items hold cold better than air, so the fridge doesn't work as hard.
On that note, if you ever discuss minifridges again i highly recommend Technology Connections video on those - the skincare fridges are close to using as much energy as a fullsize fridge
thanks so much for that info on minifridges this is useful info for the future
At first, I think it captured interest because it is SO absurd . . . but also SO IN TUNE with the ~ aesthetic ~ and themed lifestyle that social media culture promotes. A confluence of the absurdity and the beauty was attuned to the zeitgeist. From what I've seen, the idea isn't that it is supposed to be an every day fridge solution, but rather more along the lines of the still life tradition in art. I have my BFA and this is exactly the kind of thing art students love. A little fun. A little edgy. A little bit commenting on larger societal issues. Absurdist still life. After the original artist created it, though, it could easily descend to become another content-for-content's-sake social media genre. You're absolutely right that it's not the same as other trends, like flavored ice for example, bc it doesn't REQUIRE purchases to participate, and it does not seem to be an ad for storage, decor, etc. In general, it's much more healthy as a creative outlet than direct-shopping related accounts. I vote that's it's more art than anything, and is actually pretty clever and fun.
TLDR: I don't think it's meant to be useful/functional; it's in the still life tradition, with an absurdist twist because it is in an unexpected location where things like framed photos would never be. Think Meret Oppenheim (the furry teacup) or the "readymade" art movement
Hi ! The supermarket is the only place where a frigdescaping concept seems to be useful . These tiktokers should have a fridge with glass doors to admire the whole food arrangement. Greetings from Paris, really enjoy your vlogs.
This is quite the interesting thought. A glass fridge where you can see it out of would be cool too for someone who does upkeep it regularly
As someone who recently cleaned out her insanely cluttered, messy, and chock-full-of-wasted-food fridge, I definitely appreciate fridgescaping. That one that was decorated with traditional Mexican arts and crafts? Straight up my alley. It looks so vibrant and inviting. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with a fridgescape; I share my fridge with three other adults. But for the right person (and that’s the kicker, right? Not everything is made for everyone and if it’s not for you, there’s no reason-in most cases-to diss the thing), it’s a beautiful way to keep their fridge clean and organized. Hats off to the creatives out there! Enjoy your beautiful fridges!
As an avid gardener, i found it interesting that you classified it as a hobby that is heavily focused on aesthetics.. There are definitely people who do it for people ornamental gardens, most people I know do it for food, conservation (native plants and pollinator gardens), or just because they find peace connecting with nature. I know so many gardeners with messy gardens lol
Honestly, I love it. I enjoy seeing what kind of creativity people display with it. I like the concept of being mindful about what your fridge looks like and what is inside of it. Plus it promotes keeping a clean and organized environment. My fridge is always a mess. And I avoid it a lot because I don’t want to deal with it. And when I make the effort to make things pretty it makes me want to use it. So I can definitely see the value of fridgescaping.
Just concerned about the social medianess of it encouraging: wasted electricity with the door(s) being opened for longer than intended periods (if this was in a cabinet with no glass to the door, no electricity wasted there), food spoilage due to the door(s) being opened for longer than the refrigerator's design intended, and how this can spiral into buying new things because it's a new season, a new month, a new week, the current holiday 😵💫 I understand that doesn't seem to have been the original intent, but with social media, I think we can all bet money that's where it's gonna end up. 😢
Really don't know where folk get the energy/will to add all this extra stuff to food storage. Each to their own, I suppose. I'd be worried about lack of air circulation in some of those fridges - they look pretty packed.
Shawna - I'd be interested in your take on the Chinese 3 second seller phenomenon. Edvasian covered it recently.
Part of my brain understands how this could help with people having difficulties getting excited around eating and cooking. But I'm not gonna lie, most of me is screaming WHAT IN THE HELL over and over again
totally cool that this isn't for you! You're not alone in disliking the trend or finding it impractical (perhaps to say the least)
I feel your scream, because something is screaming inside me too) It is just...not right. I could never. I'm not judging other people doing it though. Their fridges are not my business for sure 😅
same, i’m trying so hard to be open-minded but a big part of me is still like 👀
I think fridgescaping has the same potential for overconsumption that any hobby does. For example i crochet and knit, i'm personally careful to only buy yarn i know i'll use but there are many people who go overboard and end up with 20-100+ skeins of unused yarn purely because it's pretty or they saw someone else use that yarn. It sounds like fridge scaping could be cool as an easy eay to make your food more interesting or exciting. Maybe instead if switching the themes every two weeks you just do it 4 times- one for each season- and add one or two little items for holidays. Maybe if you struggle with appetite or adhd having everything in a pretty jar that you want to go look at could help you eat healthier/eat food before it goes bad. If i had enough energy i think fridge scaping could be a cool hobby for me honestly. But i also am a lot less prone to overcosunption than someone who might have a shopping addiction.
Beautifying your life can be good and fulfilling, hobbies can be good and fuffiling. But it's important that we keep our hobby purchases reasonable. A thirfted piture frame,table cloth, and vase is totally reasonable in my opinion. My mom really enjoys decorating tables for holidays but she also has reasonable spending habits relating to it. The problem isn't the hobby, it's our mindset. You can enjoy beauty and aesthetics without purchasing $200+ of junk. I think fridgescpaing can be a nice way to encourage people to just have fun with what you already have. Or even borrow from your grandparents because i'm sure many of us have grandparents with way too much decor in boxes lol
I grew up with a traditional housewife mother and I have nothing but respect for everything they do! She gardens to grow her own produce, makes meals from scratch and kept a clean kid friendly environment that made me feel safe growing up! I also learned how to knit, sew, and crochet from the women of my family and love those hobbies! The difference I think for me is that those have a purpose to take care of those around you! My great grandmother made us blankets to keep us warm, my grandmother grew certain plants to keep away pest. Most things that are seen as women’s work are actually steeped in the tradition of using what you have and prolonging something’s usefulness. With the fridgescaping i can get it to a degree! My family will use old bowls and mugs to place things in the fridge instead of buying wasteful containers. My understanding ends with the commercialized themes and the wasted time that could have been spend doing one of the many other beneficial so called woman’s tasks.
Fridge scaping makes me so uncomfortable because of mold! There are so many crevices and fabrics etc id get so worried about mold and food tasting weird
I feel like I've had enough internet for today or maybe for a very very long time 🥲 great video as always, Shawna
Thanks for posting, Shawna!
When you were talking about the “hobby horse” situation, it reminded me of how that’s part of how the term “hobby” became coined in the first place. If “hobbies” weren’t somewhat stupid to some people, would they still be hobbies, or just work?
As a knitted, a whole form of commercialization in the knitting world is the “project bag” and some popular knittoubers have to tell you about every single project bag… I feel that any hobby can be more and more commercialized if someone is desperate enough for it to be.
I think that fridgescaping as a “hobby” isn’t dumb, especially for people who know they struggle with food and want to develop their relationship with food in a better way. It’s important not to disregard the fact that a lot of people struggle with their relationship with food…
It is really interesting that back when people were fighting for hobbies and free time, they thought that the future would include a lot more free time for people, justifying that for the reason hobbies needed to be included in the curriculum. It’s hard to make things like Amazon and hyper consumerism into a “job” and the moral impact of all that is definitely scary.
I really appreciate you covering things like this that could easily be mistaken at first glance as overconsumption. I think its super easy to get into the mindset that any hobby that requires buying things equates to overconsumption.
I appreciate your take on this! I haven't heard of this idea, before. When you put on a lens of it being artful and getting creative, it makes sense. Someone who likes design might not have a garden/lawn, or not have the time/financial standing to take on redecorating a room. A fridge is a smaller canvas. If this makes someone happy, then I don't see the issue. Why would I judge, when I could spend the same 5hrs making a minecraft or sims build? People think games are dumb, too, but anything can be a creative outlet. We shouldn't automatically jump to dismissing whimsy in adulthood. People do changing-themes in their windows, porches, bathrooms, why not the fridge?
That grey cardigan looks lovely on you!
@@nat.loves.dinosaurs it totally does. I think it's the cool tone if it
I believe one must have a loooot of spare time in order to do it.
I actually really love this concept & will be incorporating it into my life! I have all these pretty dishes, vases and containers that need a home; the fridge will do fine!
In order to fridgescape, I'd have to buy a fridge bigger than I need so I had more room than just what I need to store my food. Gardening, on the other hand, makes food that I don't need to buy.
The only useful thing I can take away from this trend is putting a basket in my fridge for my fresh produce, rather than shoving it away in the bottom drawer where it will turn into cauliflower and tomato soup because I forget it's in there. As for putting not-food things into the fridge - other than packaging - no. I'd be so annoyed trying to get the hot sauce or butter and knocking over the aesthetic vase with rosebud. Or knocking one of those heavy knick-knacks over and cracking my glass shelves. All that extra not-food stuff could also reduce the fridge's ability to keep food cold, which is a health concern.
This is so weird. Society's obsession with aestheticizing everything and anything is really disturbing.
Honestly, it feels less like society's obsession, and more like TikTok's obsession.
Too much free time on their hands tbh
I wouldn't call it "beautifying" more like junkifying!
I don't see produce stored properly and it will spoil much quicker than if it were put in the correct bins and containers. It seems some people think that because they buy artfully placed produce at the store, that that's how apples, oranges, etc were meant to be optimally stored. Which is very far from the truth.
And then there is the matter of how you keep this beast looking "beautiful" when more than one person is dealing with it! Or how many of the knick knacks will be knocked over or out of the fridge when others are rummaging through it! Just one more thing to be constantly worrying about!
That being said, as long as the fridgescaper doesn't have a problem constantly arranging and tidying up the refrigerator then it is pretty harmless. But I can think of a million better ways to spend my time than tarting up my refrigerator! Great video Shawna!
To be honest.
The pricier groceries get, my fridge has unintentionally taken on a minimalist aesthetic.
There is plenty of room in there for absolutely useless stuff related to a refrigerator.
18:39 misogyny is such an interesting point. A lot of these “women’s hobbies” shown online are called wasteful and they get comments like “the world is burning”.
Meanwhile it’s a known fact that crypto mining and the NFT projects are male dominated “hobbies” and take extreme amounts of energy and shorten the lifespans of the computers used for the mining. But that is rarely discussed issue with those fields.
I think the hobbies of women seem more wasteful because it’s physical items
29:53 he is right. I am poor 😂 I can barely fit my groceries in my tiny fridge. I feel like this trend is for people with big expensive fridges. Not us with the frosty apartment fridge
It's so weird cause my biggest (and only tbh) concern is the fact that fridges are very moist places and people are putting books in them which will 100% destroy the book and create mold which will then spread to the food and most likely be damaging to the person's health...
this is actually a great point you've raised. Perhaps those who want to fridgescape can pass on the books.
This is truly the weirdest thing ever.
I think it's an acquired taste 😅
@shawnaripari the storing things in pretty vases and what not, I can get past. The picture frames and lights etc, I just can't imagine adding that much more of a hassle to your life. But I have 2 kids and ADHD so it's just giving me anxiety 😂
@lallana2882 I also could never do it so i totally get you on that 😅
If someone did this 100 years ago, they would be sectioned. I think some people have far too much time on their hands, plus they must have MASSIVE fridges. I can't fit my normal food in mine, let alone adding flowers and ornaments, etc. I think we are running out of ideas for things to occupy our time and for the next craze to go viral! Also, I totally agree with look at things that are going on in the world and some people are decorating their fridges...what is going on!
It’s almost like making your fridge into a functional altar, in a spiritual way this makes sense with the concept of offerings and consuming imbued food.
i just feel like this is so impractical. it would be so hard to grab the things you need without knocking a bunch of crap off those shelves. i don’t get why a fridge of all things…why not an area of your home that people will actually see and doesn’t impede your daily life?
Fridgescaping for TikTok or other social media is a form of ephemeral art. I think that just contributes to it being conceived as frivolous. And yes, it is a privilege to have the time alone to do it. (Reminder to the “we all have 24 hours in a day” lot: Beyoncé doesn’t have to produce eight ours a day with a commute on either side of that to have income and can outsource a lot of the more mundane tasks.)
As a knitter who follows other knitters, I can tell you that often that commercialization / consumption problem often comes directly from the audience. There are ALWAYS comments on knitters’ videos that they should sell whatever they knit as a business opportunity. I get the same in person. The fact is that nobody could afford the socks I’m knitting once materials and a living wage are accounted for. If they can’t get you to sell them the finished product and someone wants to try your art/craft/hobby they want you to put together a kit for them to buy. (Which is why we seem to have companies popping up all over to sell shitty knitting kits, I suppose.) I can totally see setting up a storefront if she bought some things for a specific fridgescape, just to get people off her back.
As a feminist, I fully support women (all women, not cis-het white women) making whatever choice about occupation makes them happy, provided they have equal access to resources. We need to remember, though, that *traditionally* wives were the wards of their husbands and ended up in horrible abuse situations, in an asylum, or on the street if they didn’t conform to their husbands’ wishes. They literally had no access to resources on their own. It was only during my lifetime (1974, nearly a decade after the Civil Rights Act) that women (in the US) were finally able to have their own bank accounts without permission from their husbands and I do take exception to the “trad wives” making vapid, decorative, and servile look aspirational to other young women because they are romanticizing a return to men’s complete control in relationships, a tradition with ramifications they seem wholly ignorant of. That is not the same as being a homemaker, it’s just a recipe for abuse with no way out.
Very good critique/ take on this Shawna! Ps I miss the song you used to play at the end!!
it will make a comeback in January 💕
I have never heard of this before. Never really occured to me before as I think of a fridge as being simply functional
My great great uncle was the first landscape architect, and it makes me laugh thinking about telling him that people now do "fridgescaping"😂
Fridgescaping as the solution to not eating what's in there: decorate with lots of plastic animals, that will eat your food first, if you don't.
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” People… the emperor has no clothes! Things have become so much of a distraction and we constantly feel the need to escape that these are the results.
Wildly interesting video! I feel like I wouldn’t even know where to start in response as I had a continuous stream of commentary as it went along, but I will say this is one of my favorites takes I’ve seen so far. It was so well thought out and you’ve made so many good points. It was also practical and neutral, which I appreciate. My fridgescaping journey has been an absolutely wild ride between the unexpected interest and the genuine benefits it’s had for my health that have been genuinely life changing. Daily I am on a social media rollercoaster oscillating between support and hate. Who knew a decorated fridge could be so polarizing? Anyway, this was a breath of fresh air.
I have trouble with it as a kneejerk reaction because vintage goods can have dangerous chemicals you don't want in contact with food. Beyond that so much used is not easy to sanitize susceptible to mold and would thus promote spoilage of fresh fruit and veg.
We're a Costco family. I literally don't have room for anything besides food in my fridge....
I had never heard of this until your video. I thought it was just aesthetically organizing a fridge but wow that goes way beyond. I can see the draw it would have on people who take pride in their home, love decorating, love flowers, love a theme. And I can see it lending itself to purchasing secondhand items or making use of unused items around the home. Who cares if it’s frivolous to others as long as you’re not creating unnecessary waste, or spending unnecessary amounts of money to make your space beautiful. I couldn’t be bothered with this, but that’s just how I am and I’m sure I do lots of things other people think is a waste of time but I enjoy it so who cares.
I don't really like the idea of people standing with their fridge doors open for ages while they fuss around arranging everything. It uses lots of extra electricity trying to chill the whole kitchen to 4C and is not great for food safety as everything inside warms up.
Next thing we know people will start decorating their toilet seat... I mean why oh why do we need fridge decor?
I was seeing it as, its hard to afford to fill your fridge, but lets make the empty space full. Makes an empty fridge seem less depressing
I know the mold on the stuff inside is CRAZY
I've been waiting for you to do a video on this!
As an original idea it's quirky; as a trend, not so much.
While I think fridgescaping can be kind of cute, the biggest thing that bothers me about it is when people use antique or one-of-a-kind items (like original photos) that can't withstand the humidity of a refrigerator. Or when it's so packed the air can't circulate properly which can lead to food waste and unsafe food storage.
Never head of fridgescaping before. The horse in the fridge got me. If this video didn't explain this is a hobby I would have thought dementia. Reminds me of my great aunt placing the raw chicken "back" in the toilet instead of back in the fridge. I genuinely think this is why people find it interesting. The alarm bells ring in the head that something is off.
Personally I do believe the fridgescapers should definitely do what makes them happy. No qualms with people enjoying their own hobbies. Like when I'm stressed I tend to clean and organize. If someone destresses by fridgescaping, all to it. I do also worry about the mental health of everyone though.
Btw, honestly most impressed with the fridge scapers putting themselves out there on the internet. The internet is brutal to put such an intimate hobby. Most people have weird hobbies and funky things they do at home. Or if they didn't before the pandemic, surely they have one now. Just not many put it out there.
great takes 👏 i do think it can be considered an art form, but art can and should be able to be critiqued as well.
It's like cottagecore for fridges
I don’t have a problem with fridgescaping. I don’t have any room in my fridge and freezer for anything but food nor do I want to spend my time that way, so I won’t be doing it myself.
Shawna, I hope you read this. ☺Thank you for posting your content, the past week for me has been quite a challenge for me and your videos help keep me grounded, your perspective and calm videos are relaxing for me. Your videos help me when I feel the urge to shop! 🙈I love your insightful commentary and just how calm your videos are, too many videos online now are full of loud noises and animations. Thanks girl💕💕
thank you so much!! I'm so glad you enjoy my content and find it helpful and I'm glad my videos were there for you when you needed them. Thank you for being here 💕
This is absolutely disgusting, sorry I cannot finish this video, I don't want to see this concept ever
The art world: Fridgescaping is stupid, thus it's not art.
Also the art world: *sees a toilet hung in the gallery* It's a masterpiece!🚽
Are we living in the same world? Most people I know think modern art is 99% trash
Campers after 10 days of digging holes to go to the loo: definitely a masterpiece!
My issues with fridge scaping is that it just promotes people to buy more unnecessary things.
Having cute bowls and glassware is super fine and something I'm probably gonna do when I move but flowers and picture frames? Seasonal themes? Unnecessary.
I did see someone mention how this was an example of classism because women who have time and money can afford to do this and it's just the modern day "white fridge is for poor people"
I'm definitely going to put some pretty decor in my fridge right now, this is a place that could use some beautifying!
That's stupid. You should be placing things in your fridge to maximize airflow and shelf life, not aesthetic.
At least for me any veggies without package get bad faster in the fridge.
Unless in a vase of water!
i dont think anyone is actually doing this at all. imo this is strictly an online trend.
This is the kind of thing that sets off my autism in a bad way. (That being said, I have the brutalist “function over form” autism that makes me bang my head on a wall when I accidentally hear a nail tapping MSR video, not the cute manic pixie dream girl, aesthetic makeup autism)
The amount of energy wasted having a fridge open for FIVE HOURS to position a picture frame in a fridge is just infuriating.
Tablescape doesn’t do that.
(And gardening also doesn’t have to be aesthetic. I have a “survival garden”’and I want to make an urban food forest eventually.) z
What in the fresh hell is this?!? Oh, watch the video Katie
I live in an rental, my fridge has no space for my 30 eggs carton let alone figurines...
yep, it's definitely not for everyone
I think the "food as a luxury good" argument is really interesting. I still feel like it's an extremely middle-class reaction to that concept though, because I can't see truly poor families or individuals, for whom food really is difficult to afford, doing something like this. I think romanticizing cooking is much more productive and relatable than romanticizing/aestheticizing ingredient storage.
The hobbit fridge feels like how I use my produce from my vegetable garden. Last week we made some garlic butter pasta with basil that I had picked from our plot. We had chopped a big bush and put it in a jar for a week to enjoy the aesthetic before we made the dish. Besides buying the basil plant and the ingredients to make the meal, the jar was something I already had and we were able to enjoy the beauty of our food for a week before eating it. It smelt so good in our kitchen so I didn’t have to burn candles or buy flowers to get the same effect.
Love the smell of fresh basil in the kitchen.. so good.
I love Shabaz! As a New Zealander, I love his dry British sense of humour, His ice restock videos are hilarious too. He's actually a chemistry teacher as well as a comedian/social commentator. I also reserve the right to call Hobby Horse racing stupid!
@@BrigitteDiessl Ball-y ice in all shapes and sizes, skinny fruity ice, sparkly butterfly ice... Can't put them all in the same container, though. What are you? Brand new?
@@LMvonLebkuchen are you German or Austrian with a name like that? No, not brand new just too lazy to type it all out!
@@BrigitteDiessl Oh, no, not you! It's just the sort of stuff that Shabazz says in his videos about people making fancy ice to refill their ice drawers/ freezers with.
I am part German, but the name is more just because I needed a name for YT and I am fond of lebkuchen cookies
@@LMvonLebkuchen I'm half Austrian (my Dad is Austrian.) I love Lebkuchen too. I took my kids (27F and 20M) to Austria for Christmas last year. The Christmas markets are magic. I make Kipferl every year. They are great because they literally last for months in an airtight container. They're really easy, too. I just about broke my back ,today, lugging all the Christmas baking ingredients home from the supermarket. I live in entirely the wrong place to do a lot of baking at Christmas time. I'm in New Zealand and it's summer time at Christmas. I should be stocking my fridge with bally berry ice!!! Next year we're going to Austria again in August to enjoy their summer.
My fridge is simply too small for this.
I love fridgescaping. I don’t have the time to go all out but I love looking for pretty bowls and containers to make it pretty.
The first time I saw one of these videos I thought people were decorating their fridges because they were bare. Groceries are expensive, I can see decorating your fridge with non-food items for that reason, especially if it's stuff you already have around the house. That said, I wouldn't want anything I did have in there to spoil while rearranging. To each their own.
Lmao the ad I got after this video was some dude advertising a company that fixes fridges (I think).
I work on autopilot in the morning so idea of having to move something to get to the milk in the morning fills me with horror - but it does make me want to tidy my fridge and so it’s not all bad.
It's stupid to decorate my refrigerator because it barely has food in it. I would rather buy clothes, makeup, shoes, handbags, and boots. Or home decor.
If I open my fridge and see picture frames, I’m gonna be upset. 🤣🤣
hey! im a young woman and this content really helps me, god bless xx
I... surprisingly don't completely hate this. Am I going to actively do it? Nope. But I also have a gluttony of decorative bowls and stuff I inherited just collecting dust in a closet. I don't know why I never thought to use some of these bowls to corral bits and bobs in the fridge that also just happens to look pretty.
21:54 is the candle lit in the fridge ?!?! just doesn’t look like a fake flame to me lol
i get the idea of making things more beautiful, but i feel like with the fridge it’s “tucked away” like folks don’t do this for cabinets or things like that. point is to be displayed. i get doing small things like nice organizing stuff, maybe colorful or patterned self liners. i think bc it takes away functionality (in the form of space) of something so purely for function (if you want to decorate it there is the outside for it)
i get it for food waste, but general organizing also does it, i just don’t get decorations or stuff like that. plus that fridge is being open way too long imo lol
My grandmother used to re-theme her entire house near monthly, she used the same stuff year to year, every holiday was treated like Christmas, different holiday stuff on every flat surface, I still have a few of her little Easter bunny sets. This was considered part of 'good home making' these scapes feels a bit like a smaller more manageable version of that, maybe some ladies are trying to reclaim a little piece of the comfort of living in a well managed house, which could be much less expensive simply because its a smaller space. My real critique lies more in the fact that it is a refrigerator, having the door open long enough to do it. I think I'd feel better about pantry or cupboard scaping, same benefit of a smaller more contained space most people have without the refriduration issue. On the food scarcity thing, I have personally put non-food items in my fridge just to curb the gut drop out of opening an empty fridge.
humans have a knack for making food beautiful. like even if you isolate it from the consumerist hellscape we just like eating beautiful food in beautiful places
Growing up in Australia in the days of no air conditioning, and sometimes 40°C weather in summer, getting something out of the fridge was the stuff of 'hurry up and shut the bloody door'. Id have got in trouble for doing this then. Now the beeper goes off after 30 seconds of a door open, which would do my head in, if i had to repeatedly listen to it over the course of a couple of hours.
The first example video from the main creator you mentioned is just like an organized fridge with a little more details added. While these look cute on a video I can’t imagine functionally using this kind of fridge - having to dodge little mini flower vases and picture frames each time I want to grab a jar or some food?! I would literally just not eat lmao. There’s an idea in decluttering called “reducing friction” so you reduce the steps needed to get a thing to use it, and this just seems like it increases friction. But then again my ADHD brain just sees this as a nightmare where the actual food is being hidden by pretty decor pieces. I’d open that fridge 3 months later and find rotting vegetables in a basket because it was stuffed behind a vase 😢 very pretty to look at and I value your ideas about art and aesthetics but it’s a no for me 😭
How does anyone with a family not need their whole refrigerator for food? To me this is more of an attention getting hobby than art. Art is subjective, and like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. I still have many questions. As there appears to be little room for food in these refrigerators, are these extra appliances just used for the scraping? Practically speaking this makes no sense for the use of one of the most expensive appliances people own. Thrifting items has nothing to do with being responsible consumers. Have we not already seen enough huge thrift hauls? The influencer you referenced is already on that slippery slope of now scraping based on seasonal themes. This is leading nowhere good as regards conspicuous consumption. If you are buying enough healthy food for a family to last a week then you don’t have room for scraping with flowers and picture frames. What bacteria and other germs are those wood frames and vintage products introducing into what should be a clean and healthy environment for your foodstuffs. We can’t buy a family of 4 two gallons of milk for a couple of weeks because we need room for fancy bowls and flowers. Where is the concern for nutrition? Evaluate the contents of these fridge scapes more closely and you will see there is not much nutritional value there. That leads me to believe that perhaps a few of these creators have dedicated refrigerators just for scraping. You come down pretty hard on the fridge organizers but at least there is a nutritious supply of food for a family there. These can send bad signals to people wanting to emulate the scrapers. Just my opinion. Everyone can do what they want.
Art is inherently “stupid, frivolous and a waste of time”. If it was entirely logical and useful it would be missing its point.
This is hilarious (and ridiculous) ... so glad I have never come across this before 🤣
Where do you put leftovers?!
ur sweater almost matches ur eyes, u look gorgeous! a great and v helpful video as always!!
My dog would think she was getting cheese every time i opened the door.
I agree that this is a mostly harmless hobby that people are weirdly worked up about? It's not my thing, but a lot of other people's interests aren't - it doesn't mean I'm right and they're wrong. I also don't know if the "this is for rich people" critique holds up - I'd argue that a refrigerator full of kitsch is the exact opposite of how rich people keep theirs (likely kept immaculate by staff). But also, is it that weird if someone spent a half-hour fridgescaping instead of say, scrolling TikTok? I hate when people on social media act like it's praxis to knock something that's relatively accessible (you could fridgescape with a couple of things from Dollar Tree if you really wanted to) because they personally don't like it.
yes, I agree with a lot of this. The amount of people getting worked up didn't seem to match what was happening.
@@shawnaripari Forgot to mention I really enjoyed this along with the rest of your videos, I always love when I see you've posted!
Other than maybe putting a dead & not worth repairing refrigerator to a use that isn't recycling (or heaven forbid landfill material), I don't think I understand fridgescaping.
I do some fridge organization with the bins I can see through so my fresh foods don't spoil before I can use or eat them (Americans throw out ~40% of their food which is really problematic in terms of waste)
I see how fridgescaping is a way to romantisice the food in the fridge which could be helpful for some people.
I have never fridge scaped or decanted things for the aesthetic of the fridge but i could imagine if I fridge scaped I would be able to remember whats in there better.
In my case my fridge is large and mostly empty, so its less likely to cause problems like food hiding behind a decoration and rotting.
However i wont be trying fridgescaping because i can't be bothered.