Reorganizing the Spice Cabinet – Mini Refresh Part 1

Living off of one income puts my husband and I on a really tight budget, which means most of our money goes to necessities, and there isn’t much left for wants. But this does not mean that I can’t have a nice looking and well organized house! Along with not having much to spend on aesthetically pleasing organization products, I also don’t have the time to be able to redo and organize whole rooms at once. That is why I’m starting this series called “Mini Refresh“. I have made a list of small areas in my home that could use a little bit of a refresh and I will be tackling one of those areas once a month until I run out; while staying on a budget.

Today’s Mini Refresh is the spice cabinet! This is something that has been slowly driving me insane for a while now, so I thought I’d take care of it first. I’ve recently started to buy my herbs and spices form local Mennonite stores at a better price than what I was buying before, however, they come in really inconvenient containers. So trying to use my spices has become a little more of a challenge.

So let’s fix that.

Why should you refresh your spice cabinet?

Before we get started, lets talk about why you should refresh your spice cabinet, and some of the benefits doing so will bring.

1. It becomes easier to use.

Refreshing your spice cabinet results in it being organized which makes it a lot easier to use. Before refreshing my spice cabinet, I’ve found that it had become harder to find what I was looking for and almost every time I opened it up, something would end up falling out. It can make cooking a lot more frustrating than it needs to be, when you’re constantly fighting your way through a mess to get the one spice you’re looking for. But with your spice cabinet being easier to use, you may find yourself using it more often and possibly learning about new spices you can try, making the cooking experience much more enjoyable!

2. You can save money by buying in bulk.

Buying in bulk can be a great way to save money, which I am a huge fan of. Having reusable, glass spice bottles allows me to be able to buy more herbs and spices in bulk and just refill the bottles as needed. This may not be an option for everyone (I know what it’s like living in a small space), but I encourage you to do this where you can. I like to use my vacuum sealer to keep my bulk dried herbs and spices fresh, and to compact them so that they can be stored in a smaller space.

3. It looks nice.

If you’ve read my post “3 Simple ways to turn your House into a Home”, I talk about how using functioning decor to add pieces of yourself to your house to make it feel more like a home. I said it in there and I’ll say it again: there is nothing wrong with the things we use everyday being pretty and making us smile a little whenever we use them. I do a lot of cooking and getting into my spice cabinet makes me smile a little now that its been refreshed. I appreciate my own hard work to make this small space in my kitchen look nice and function a lot better.

Now that you know the why, let’s go over the how:

1. Gather your supplies.

The first thing I did when planning this small project was set aside some money to do it. I had recently done a large sewing job, so I used some of the money I made from that for my home; including the spice bottles for my spice cabinet. I looked around a little before settling on these bottles* from Amazon. I liked how they looked and that they came with labels. The price on these bottles wasn’t too bad either, I got 30 bottles for $23.99 at the time.

Along with new, reusable bottles, I wanted to spice up my spice cabinet (pun intended). So to give it a little bit of a makeover, I dug out some contact paper that I had from another project and bought some shelf liner to match from the dollar store. I also picked up some step shelves from the dollar store to help keep everything nice and organized, but I ended up not using them; which you will see why later.

2. Clean out your cabinet.

Once I had all of the things I need to get started, I took all of my spices out of the cabinet and set them on my table so I could go through them first. Sorting through all of my spices I’ve found a few that I didn’t know I had and a few that had hardened on me, which I threw out. As I was doing this, I separated them out, putting all of the Italian seasoning together, all of the spicy ones together, and so forth. Since I wasn’t sure if I had enough bottles, this gave me an idea of what I did have and what I used most often.

Once everything was out of the cabinet, I took out all of the shelves, along with the pegs that they set on, and removed the old contact paper. I then wiped everything down, making sure it was as clean as I could get it. Unfortunately, there was this yellow stain on the side of the cabinet, that was from the previous tenets, that wouldn’t come off for anything, so I will either ignore it or cover it later on.

3. Fill and label your bottles.

After I had wiped down the cabinet, I wanted to let it dry completely before putting anything back so I decided to go ahead and start filling up the bottles. The bottles I had bought came with labels and a funnel so this was relatively easy. I laid a sheet of printer paper down to catch anything that may spill, and started labeling and filling my bottles. I made sure to start with the spices I use most often, and I kept a paper towel next to me to wipe out the funnel after filling each bottle.

It would be a great idea to keep a notebook with you to keep track of any herbs or spices you want to stock up on!

4. Get your cabinet ready.

Now that all of that is out of the way, it’s time to give this cabinet a little makeover! As mentioned above, I had some contact paper from a previous project that I dug out of the closet. I wanted to put a piece of it in the back of the cabinet to make it a little nicer looking. So I measured what I needed, cut it out, and applied it. It’s not perfect but I was fairly happy with it. I thought about doing the sides too, to cover that stain I was telling you about, but I didn’t want to mess with punching out the the holes for the shelf pegs, so I decided to do that another day.

I then cut out what I need from the shelf liner and set the first piece in. I put the step shelves on top of that and this is where I ran into a problem. I grabbed a few bottles to place on the step shelf to determined where I needed to place my pegs for the next shelf to go on and the bottles kept falling off. The spaces between the wire on the step shelves were too far apart for my bottles to sit on without tipping over. I then remembered that at our old place I had different step shelves, so I went looking for them. They didn’t fit when I tried to put them in when we first moved here, but I thought I’d try again; and with a lot of manipulation, I was able to get them in. I was so glad I was able to get them to work! With the first step shelf in, I was able to put the remaining shelves in, the self liner and the second step shelf as well.

5. Put your spices back.

Now that my cabinet got a makeover, it was time to put all of my spices back. I tried my best to keep them organized by type and kept the ones I use most often within easy reach. The first two shelves filled up nicely with most of my herbs and spices, and the third shelf is where I put the few bulk spices I have; along with the salt, pepper, bay leaves, and a few other spices I don’t use very often. The very top shelf is where I keep extracts and food coloring.

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I was so happy with how this turned out! It looks so nice and has been a lot easier for me to access my herbs and spices while cooking. After I did this I found myself opening the cabinet a few times the rest of the day, just to look at it! This tiny spot in my home is now well organized, easier to use, and brings a smile to my face every time I open it.

What are some small spaces in your home that you want to give a Mini Refresh to?

Please feel free to ask any questions and share you thoughts down below.

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