Messy Fridge = Scattered Cooking

A messy fridge can sneak up on even the most vigilant cook.
And, it results in mayhem. I believe the ease in preparing dinner is directly proportionate to the organization of one's refrigerator.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not going to get all Bree Van de Kamp on you and insist that cheese should be arranged according to pungency. BUT... having things placed in 'quadrants' has certainly helped me really see what I have, how it relates to other foods, and not forget to use it before it goes bad.
First, let's take a look at what went wrong...
It starts out fine on the top shelf, which is for beverage only, ranging from healthy to not, left to right. The trouble begins just below the cheese/lunchmeat drawer, where I've stuffed random items such as artichoke pesto and bags of fruit salad. This area should be only for lunch items, like bread, leftovers, etc. To the right of the wayward salad, we have a tupperware full of bacon grease (that one needs its own post), a bag of Mexican cheese (should be in the drawer) and leftover pasta. The bottom shelf is where the food has seemingly staged a rebellion, with veggies that have escaped from their drawers, and a tub of hastily stashed whipped cream, which should be in the freezer. There might also be a steak or two in the very back, but because I can't see it, I could be presented with an exercise in spontaneous generation before I get to it.
My advice? Divide the refrigerator into quadrants, or sections. Beverages, lunch items, veggies, side dish stuff, meats. This way, when searching for inspiration, you can concentrate on one area at a time, cutting down on the amount of 'refrigerating the entire neighborhood' by holding the door open.
So, I had a messy fridge. What's my point? When it was like this, I couldn't figure out what to cook because I had no idea what I had, what was still good, what needed to be used up, etc. It's since been organized, and now I have some room in my head to dream up tasty dishes instead of trying to figure up what's going on in the dark corners of the crisper.