The Best Way to Organize Your Spices—and Save Money Doing It

Spice organization is the bane of basically everyone's existence, right? It certainly was a problem for me until I finally picked a system and committed to it. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on expensive containers, nor did I have the option to put in a custom spice drawer that would allow all of my (presumably matching) spice jars to lay flat in alphabetical order.

In the end, it was my boyfriend who cracked the spice organization-code. He found these 4-ounce glass jars on Amazon, which are affordable, durable, easy to clean, and have a wide enough top that you can fit a tablespoon measure inside. He ordered two sets and we spent about an hour transferring spices into the new jars. He also bought a label-maker (on a major organizational kick, if that wasn’t already clear) so we used that to print labels, but a Sharpie and a roll of painter’s tape would also do the job.

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Since then, we’ve enjoyed a spice cabinet-induced sense of calm. We’re in the process of trying to upgrade our collection to better-sourced, more flavorful spices, and with this system, it’s easy to buy just what we need. Instead of buying grocery-store jars of spices that might be way more than we’ll need over the course of even a couple of years, I’ve started frequenting shops that allow you to buy spices in bulk. Bulk shopping implies large quantities, but really, I usually buy about a tablespoon of whatever I need, which saves me money and space.

The jars stack easily, which works for my kitchen, since we have very tall, very shallow upper cabinets. If we had tons of drawer space, they’d also work well laid flat in a space drawer. You could even use velcro strips to attach them to a wall if you want your spice collection more visible. Whatever way you choose to store them, I feel certain that these affordable, highly practical spice jars will give you the same sense of calm they’ve given me.