This week, we are going to look at organizing spices and recipes.
These 2 items have a lot in common when it comes to organization. Both items are not easily decluttered because you only use them at certain times of the year and in certain recipes. However, there are many spices and recipes in your kitchen that do need to go 
So, let’s take a look at spices first.
For someone who does not cook, I am amazed how many spices I have. Now, granted, some are hubby’s, and the more he cooks, the more spices we have. Spices seem to multiply everywhere, yet you are always out of the one you need.
Here are 3 different ways for organizing spices.
#1 In a cabinet
When I redesigned our kitchen, I included this super cool looking spice cabinet. And it is cool, but I’m not so sure how space efficient it is. Most of hubby’s new spices and all the grilling spices are in this cabinet.
#2 In a spice container
These are my spices. I remember years ago – before kiddos – buying these 2 stackable spice holders. It was a huge financial investment at the time, but I knew I wanted them because:
#1 They fit in that useless cabinet to the left of the microwave that nothing fits in.
#2 They stack and spin, allowing for ultimate space saving.
#3 The spices stay in order. You take one out and pop it back in. Beautiful!
#4 The containers measure the spices – no need for measuring spoons! Just open the bottom flap and click the dial on the front. 1 click = 1/4 tsp.
I would move all our new spices into these containers, but now I have a whole spice cabinet.
#3 In a drawer
I often will put spices in drawers.
Look at how many spices this client had!
I have also organized spices in pantries.
Here is a link to the website I mentioned in the podcast to see how long your spices will last.
Organizing Recipes
In every home I organize, there is always a plethora of recipes. Many of the mothers love to use Pinterest to find new things to cook. Another favorite resource is www.allrecipes.com. However, even though these recipe books are not being used, it is really hard to decide what to get rid of.
So, I decided to take my own advice and get my own recipes organized. First, I had to find them all…they were hidden all over the kitchen!
Those two are my daughter’s cookbooks.
Over in the corner cabinet, I found a few more.
But our main go-to stack of recipes is in the cabinet above the island.
Once I had all of the recipes on the kitchen counter, I knew the totality of what I was dealing with. For many of you, this may look like a very small amount of cookbooks, but remember… I don’t cook So any cookbooks whatsoever are probably 12 cookbooks too many. Actually, most of these cookbooks are my husband’s
This is my kind of recipe. This is the best playdough recipe you will ever make. It’s made on a stove, and I used to make it every month when I was a preschool teacher. That’s the kind of recipe I follow.
Now, my grandmother is an amazing cook. For my wedding, she hand copied every recipe she had into that wooden recipe box for me. These recipes are priceless, and I will keep them all.
So, since I knew I wanted to keep the recipes my grandmother had written, I used that wooden box as my go-to place for organizing recipes. I was able to get rid of some of the cookbooks that we had and all of the extra folded, papery recipes.
Any recipe that I thought we would actually make, I simply cut and folded to fit inside of the wooden recipe box.
Other than a few recipe books that I did keep for my husband, everything else went. And I made this new cooking binder for myself. It is going to keep all of the recipes and ingredients that I need for my 2015 goal of monthly freezer cooking.
How about you? How do you like to organize spices?
Are you in?!
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The post 40 Weeks 1 Whole House: Week 15: Organizing Spices & Recipes appeared first on Organize 365.