Spice Cabinet Organizing: Execution

Earlier this week, I mentioned that one of the organizational issues I currently have with my apartment is the utter lack of organization when it comes to my spice cabinet.  I think my main issue with it is the simple fact that all of the spices are in different sized & shaped containers.

I ultimately decided to just go with these jars, which I found at Bed Bath & Beyond for 99¢ each.

I like that they're clear, which enables me to easily see the contents of each jar as well as how much there is remaining.  Plus they still have the simple shaker tops that come standard with the spice containers you buy at the store when replenishing your supply -- same functionality, but now I've just got uniform packaging for all of my spices!

To create labels for the jars, I simply typed up a Word document with the names of all of the spices, and then I printed out the pages on full-sized clear label sheets I already had on hand.  I then just used my trusty paper cutter to trim down each label to size.  Another easy option if you don't want to bother with cutting your labels would be to purchase the return address sized clear labels so you can just peel and stick after you're done printing.

Overall I am very happy with how these turned out, as well as the improvement they have made to my cabinet.  Now I have all of my spice containers down on the bottom shelf for easier access, rather than having half of them hidden behind the larger objects on the second shelf.

Before & After:

I put all of the jars in alphabetical order to make finding necessary spices easier, though I did put the ones I use the most up front for easiest access.  And all that remains on the middle shelf now are the larger items, which can all be seen.  The last thing I might do is to create a tiered platform to elevate the jars on the second and third rows in order to make them easier to view.

Now I just need to come up with a fix to take care of my baking supplies on the top shelf!

Extracts, and sprinkles, and cupcake liners, oh my!

Spice Cabinet Organizing: Planning

Last week, someone from the moving company that is supposed to be packing up all of our possessions in the matter of a few weeks from now came out to conduct our pre-move survey and make notes of what all we have that will need to be shipped halfway across the country to our new home in Texas.  This provided excellent motivation for me to work on getting as much unnecessary junk out of our place as humanly possible during the weekend and first part of the week that preceded his visit.

I finally loaded up the trunk of my car till it was packed full with items that I was donating to Goodwill.  I stuffed the backseat of my car with old cardboard boxes we had been saving from when we first moved into our apartment four years ago that we'll now no longer need to bring to the recycling dumpsters in town.  And I had filled my 96-gallon trash and recycling cans as full as humanly possible with other items that either needed to be tossed or could be recycled.  Believe or not, I actually still have some more items to go through and weed out, but thankfully about 80% of it is now done.

Once this guy started going through our pantry and cabinets however, I started to feel slightly embarrassed at how unorganized portions of my home still are.  Lately, kitchen organization has been sitting at the top of my to-do list for things to take care of around the house, probably tied with home office space organization.  After this visit, I quickly decided that a better solution to the mess that is the spice cabinet is first item I want to tackle and cross off of my list.

I had recently seen a lot of images on various blogs as well as Pinterest of people using those round metal containers to hang up their spices on cabinet doors with magnets, and first fell in love with the idea when I saw Alton Brown using them on his show Good Eats.  I love the finished look they give, however I knew that option would not really be the best for me given any organization/home improvement projects I do need to be mobile to assist with our nomadic lifestyle.

I finally decided on another type of container.  While it will not allow me the ease of being able to see all of my spices at a single glance, it will help by making my cabinet look more uniform and hopefully not so cluttered.  Stayed tuned for later this week when I will reveal my before and after pictures and some of the steps I took along the way!