I’m a super organized type-A person so my spice cabinet has pretty much always been in alphabetical order on a turntable. It seems that no one else in the family can manage to keep them alphabetized. So, I have to go in and re-organize them about once a year, but that’s better than total disorganization.

The Before

Over the years, 30+, my collection of spices has increased as I’ve tried new recipes and food types. We’re now to the point that they won’t all fit on the turntable. This means that the overflow has been stuffed on the shelf beside the turntable. To make matters worse, the logic as to which spices were on the turntable and which were on the shelf was based on the size of the current jar of each spice. Well, we hit that point about a week ago where it was too much and I decided that it needed to be fixed.

Here’s what the shelf looked like before I pulled everything out.

I know that’s not too bad for some people, but it caused me to cringe every time I opened the cabinet.

The Process

First, I took everything out of the cabinet and cleaned the shelf. I also cleaned off the bottles and threw out any that were expired. One of the things I really hated was that you couldn’t find the spices you needed without moving several. I’d seen somewhere on the web a while back the idea of putting loose spices in a basket and writing their names on the top. This would allow you to pull the basket out and look down to quickly find the spice you were looking for.

I decided to give it a try so I went shopping for a basket. I was trying to find something that would basically fill the entire shelf. Unfortunately, all I could find was either way to large or only filled the right half. I got the one that filled half. In the end, it was the best choice because I have too many spices to not have the double stack of the turntable.

I got all the spices in alphabetical order on the kitchen table and then started putting the ones that would fit on the turntable. That left the ones that were too large for the turntable. I wrote the names on the top of these and put them in the basket. This still didn’t give me quite enough room for everything. I ended up with some of the taller items standing behind the basket with their names on the side of the cap so it can be seen.

The After

While I would rather have everything in baskets, I’m pleased with the results.

Here’s what the basket looks like from the top.

New Printable

Finally, I created a printable Spice Inventory that you can download for free in our shop. This is something I keep in my meal planning system. Don’t have a meal planning system? Check out this post.

Check back from time to time to see what other printables I’ve added.

I’m so pleased with the results that I’m going to tackle the baking shelf next. I’ll let you know how it goes. The baking shelf went great. Click on this link to see the post.

Do you have a useful way you store your spices, baking goods, or any other kitchen items? Let me know in the comments below or send me an email to janet@alifeofbalance.com. I love to hear from each of you.