One Drawer at a Time - Spices

 I have to start out by saying that one drawer at a time includes cabinets too!  Pretty much it includes any space that involves storage of some kind, not just drawers.  It is definitely a slow process, but I am finding success with it, so I'm happy with that.  The other day I tackled my spice cabinet.  For the past 13 years, it's been this small, narrow cabinet above the stove area.  I always thought that would be the most convenient because it's right there where I cook.  And having the spices close at hand seemed like a natural fit.  Well, I changed that now after going through the cabinet.

I took out all of my spices and sorted them.  Sometimes I had several bottles of the same spice which was brought on by the fact that I couldn't see the bottle hidden in the cabinet and would buy another one for whatever recipe I needed it for.  So, I got those bottles together and discarded anything that was out of date, which wasn't that much surprisingly.  Then I grouped them as best I could into like categories.  The herbs in one section, the spices used in baking in another, and so forth.  

I noticed, however, that many of my powder spices, garlic, onion, etc, had become very clumped inside the bottles.  It took lots of effort to loosen them up and was generally a pain in the rear.  So I did some research as to why that would happen.  What I discovered was that spices need to be kept at room temperature in relatively dry spaces.  That's when I realized that the location of my spices, over the stove, was what was causing them to clump like they were doing.  The heat from the stove and the oven would rise up to that particular cabinet, as well as any steam from pots that happened when cooking.  Oops.

So, I chose a cabinet on the other side of the kitchen and moved them there.  That cabinet had some miscellaneous glassware and boxes of plastic sandwich bags and other such devices.  Finding new places to put those was relatively easy.  I was able to store the spices in such a way that I can actually see them all as it's a much wider cabinet than their previous home.  So, what if I have to take a few extra steps to find the spice I need.  It's not like I'll be walking a mile for my garlic salt.  And end the in, I will be saving money because I won't buy something I already have because I'll actually be able to find it easily now.  

This process has been successful so far and I am happy with how it is going.  It's the little things that make life easier sometime.  That is all.