The Organized Kitchen, Part 2 - The Spice Rack

I love organization. Yes, I am a freak like that. I'm fine with it. I have come to accept the fact that I will always be anal and there is no changing that.

I just thank god I can teach The Good Baby how to properly load the dish washer, since trying to teach The Good Husband is a lost cause. Poor little TGB, she will think all my organization quirks are normal and will either be completely anal like her momma or a total slob. Either way, there is therapy.

I find it the easiest to organize the kitchen. I spend most of my time in there anyway and I am always looking for something that will create less clutter and save me some time.

When we moved into The Good Home, I was about 6 months pregnant so I couldn't clean or organize the way I wanted to. TGH wouldn't let me climb on the counters and clean the top of the cabinets. I still haven't done it and I shudder to think what is up there. I spent the first day organizing the pantry alone. And then I had the rest of the kitchen to do.

Then I had TGB and was sidetracked for a good, I don't know, 6 months. Organization fell by the wayside.

I also had moved from an apartment that had only 4 cabinets to one with 3 times that space. The wedding presents we had from 2 years prior were all still in the box, unopened. So when my swollen pregnancy feet and stupid sciatic nerve started to bother me late in pregnancy, I threw miscellaneous things into various cabinets, closed the door and ate some ice cream.

Just now am I beginning to assess what I need to organize and implementing the plan.

One of the weirdly challenging things to organize was my spice collection. Before, in the apartment, I had this UGLY spice rack that housed all the jars. When we moved, I donated that thing and thought I would just put them in the pantry, since spices like the dark.

Well my spices took up too much space in the pantry, so I decided to throw them in the drawer and walk away. So when I needed something I had to dig through this mess:


There had to be a better way, I told myself. I wanted a cute spice jar collection. I originally wanted one that would sit on the counter, but decided against that since I had too many damn spices. So I decided to find some jars that would 1.) look cute; 2.) seal well and 3.) fit in my drawer.

I liked the look of apothecary jars and after a few searches on amazon, I found the perfect jars from Target. I had to order them online, so I waited for a Target coupon before finally buying them last week.

Here is the result:
I bought two sets (24 jars total) and I think I might need to buy 2 more sets since I still have some spices in there original jars. Each jar holds 4.5 oz, which is enough for most regular spices.


I love the clean look and I can easily and quickly find a spice I want. To be even more anal, the spices are in alphabetical order, so I know that sage will be in the last row, while chili powder should be in the first row. You can see a bit of the spice through the top of the jar, but I put labels on the bottom of each jar just in case.

I also put my powdered, light and dark brown sugars in separate glass mason jars to save room. When I get more spices I will likely move them to the pantry.