Dollar Store Spice Organization and Printable Labels
If you ever visit our house for a random summer cookout or Friday night hangout or whatever kind of shindig we usually have happening around here, you might think we are super duper hyper organized. Oh contraire, friend.
We might ask you to hang your jackets on the hallway hooks because you do not want to open any coat closets around here. You might be greeted with an avalanche. If we shove stuff behind closed doors, the clutter doesn’t exist, right? That’s what I tell myself.
Okay, it’s not that bad. But we’re definitely far from perfect. After all of the kitchen projects lately, the insides of our cabinets needed some lovin’.
Our spice cabinet was so lack luster, I couldn’t even manage a non-fuzzy before shot. I hit up the dollar store pretty much any time I get in the mood to organize, so I snagged a 24 count box of glass spice jars and started purging the crazy cabinet.
Supplies used: (Affiliate links are provided below for convenience. For more information, see my full disclosure here.)
- Glass Spice Jars (These jars were the cheapest I could find online and they’re actually better than mine since they have metal lids.)
- Kraft Paper Labels
- Computer and Printer
- Tension Rods
I ran the jars through the dishwasher first and then discovered the plastic tops apparently had silver paint on them before because they came out completely black afterwards. Oops. Well, they were a dollar.
I put a little uncooked rice in the bottles to dry out any leftover moisture before filling them with spices.
For the labels, I made some simple printables and placed them right over top of where the dollar store stickers were. You can download them yourself here if you’d like a set too:
After clearing out a junk drawer that was long overdue for a cleaning (hey, I warned you… far from perfect), I extended a couple of tension rods to use as separators.
Then filled ’em on up with the spices after going through all of the random bottles crammed into the spice cabinet.
I spaced out all of the new spice jars on the tension rods in a drawer right next to the stove, so I can grab whatever I need in a hurry while I’m cooking.
And I put in all of my measuring cups and spoons to make things easy too.
I still left some of the items in the spice cabinet like the salt canister and baking extracts and seasoning packets, but the spice bottle chaos is finally gone.
I never knew a spice drawer could make me this happy! Maybe I could get started on that coat closet, but eh… I still have until fall to worry about that though, right?
Do you have any great dollar store organizing tricks? Or any other ways to keep a kitchen running smoothly?
If you’re feeling in the organizing mood, you can check out a few other spaces I’ve tackled too:
How to Organize a Craft Closet Like a Rockstar
The Most Frugal Way to Organize a Pantry
I love the tension rod idea and I have seen many uses of them in other blogs. However, I find that they are expensive if you need 20 or so. Any idea how to do it cheaper?
Hi Lauren, So what I have found out is Dollar Tree warehouse no longer carries the spice jars but after calling 10 stores I was able to find what I need. The lids on my jars have black flip tops with silver bands. I am going to decorate the bands with washi tape. So excited to do this as I am having new kitchen cabinets installed next week! Thanks for the wonderful idea.
Yay! So glad you were able to track them down, Carol Lee!
Hi Lau,
Thank you so much for wonderful idea and ideas. My question to you is does the side of the drawers can get loosen/damage with the tension rods? Because I had a a drawer devider with tension rods from Container Stores to divide undergarments in the drawer chest, and the drawer got damaged due to the tension rods/expandable divider.
Ooh that’s a good question! So far, we haven’t had any issues, but I can imagine that might be a problem with older, not-so-sturdy cabinets and drawers. Thanks for bringing that up.
How did you attach the labels to the jars? Can you make custom names for spices that are not included in the printable?
Just found you and am falling everywhere! Thanks.
I used sticker labels from Staples that I just ran off through my printer. I linked them if you need the source. And there’s a blank sheet in the printable so that you can add your own if some of the names of your spices aren’t included. You can add text to them by uploading the file into Picmonkey.com. Thanks so much for the love!
Well, you inspired me! Other than a small rack on my counter, all of my different ages/sizes/tins and bottles of spices were jumbled in a cardboard box in my closet. Whenever I needed a spice I just rummaged through, or worse, just bought more.
I bought 2 sets of spice bottles with labels on Amazon and set aside an afternoon to organize. I wish I could add a photo to show you my spice drawer now! Mine is a pull out drawer under the counter so I put the labels on the lid of the bottles- easier for me to read from above and also solved the problem some had where the spice name was printed on a clear label and was hard for them to read when attached to the body of the jar. Also, my jars were delivered in foam packaging that kept them upright & separated for shipping, I kept that thin bottom foam and the spice bottles are seated in that which keeps them from sliding around in the drawer. I am just Sooo pleased!
A secondary benefit is that I put my neat spice jars in the drawer that used to hold assorted cloth napkins- then next day I washed all my napkins, popped a movie in the DVD and ironed them all- now they are In a drawer in my side board- beautiful, organized, and ready to use!
I really love your posts, thank you for all you decorating tips and inspiration!
That sounds amazing, Shelley! I am SO glad this gave you some motivation!!! Enjoy your new spice drawer. 🙂 It really is incredible how a little organizing can give us so much clarity.