Mission: Spice Organization

Those of you have been reading my blog posts (and thanks to the one or two of you who are!) know that I've been working my way through the Organized Home Challenge.

The most recent area I tackled (this was last Thursday's challenge, but I got busy, so I did it today when there isn't a challenge listed!) was the spice area in my kitchen.  The challenge actually reads "Discard expired and old spices".  I did that...and more.  Here was the area in the kitchen where I kept my spices (and cookbooks, but they weren't officially part of the challenge):

What is in that bread box, you might ask?  Bread would be the logical answer, but no.  

More spices.  It really seemed like a good idea at first.  But, it just wasn't big enough, and I could never find anything.  So I had some duplicates.  Nothing as bad as the kosher salt from a few days ago, but a couple of containers of cumin, and two unopened jars of cardamom.

I had a drawer in my kitchen that contained a sifter and two power cords.  Really wasted space, if you ask me.  I moved the power cords (which I think are for the griddle and maybe the wok??) to the drawer with the pot holders and the sifter to the utensil drawer.  Now I have an empty drawer to make into my spice drawer!  I also threw out anything old or expired.  I put a few things in nicer containers (I love the containers that Penzey's spices come in.  I actually would buy all my spices there if we had one close by.  But when I need something and have run out, I have to go with the cheap-o stuff.  But I put it in the Penzey's jar to make myself feel better.)  The lids are smooth and black, which made it really easy to label the lids with a white paint pen.  Then I just lined them up alphabetically in the drawer.

I have a few random items in the back (Saltine seasoning - this was a gift and I haven't tried it yet, bags of cinnamon sticks and bay leaves, and a couple of nutmegs rolling around).  But it's so much easier to see what is in there!

And the counter space!!!

The only things I left out on the counter are the sugar dispenser, my salt container for cooking, and my bottle of Slim & Sassy.  I'm thinking about getting a new fruit bowl (my old one broke) or a banana tree to put here, but I like that I have a work space that is available.   I may also leave my cutting mats out here as well, since I always need them and they are so thin and easy to lose in the cabinet.

So, how do you organize your spices?