Y’all we’ve been in quarantine for literally ever… but, truly it’s been 60 days of stay at home.

Our state is slowly re-opening, as I believe all states are, but we aren’t quite ready to jump back in full throttle. We have enjoyed creating new routines and habits around our home. Our morning walks with podcasts. Our mid-day Starbucks fill up. Our evening bike rides. Grabbing take-out from our favorite spots and eating on our patio. Or cooking at home. All the cooking and baking, baking and cooking from home.

With all that cooking comes a realization that being just a titch more organized would make the entire process a thousand times more enjoyable. That is the way organization works… the more organized you are, the more fun everything is. Picking out your daily outfit becomes more enjoyable. Cleaning the house takes so much less time. Finding the perfect board game happens in just moments. Organization makes life simpler and the clean-up process so much easier.

We have a dedicated drawer for our spices, which frankly already makes life pretty easy. The clutter is hidden away and the chaos is more calm. However, the space is still pretty chaotic and disorganized. So many different labels, so many duplicate spices … mental chaos, please meet cooking chaos. I decided to entertain a quick project over these last 60 days that was incredibly easy to master at home. I decided it was time to organize my spice drawer. And organize I did…

To get started you’ll need a few supplies. Supplies easily ordered online. I bought these SpiceLuxe Premium Spice Jars from Amazon (good ol’ Amazon). I also ordered the Modern Spice labels from Paper & Pear on Etsy. I chose to order personalized labels as we had a solid collection of random spices that we used frequently and the personalization process was quite easy. Once the jars and labels both arrived (an act of patience in waiting) I then set up our island for an afternoon of “crafting”.

First, always always clean out your new containers. While those air dry, review all of your spices; check expiration dates, duplications and spices that may need replenishing. Get rid of all expired spices, pair like spices together, alphabetize spices as you go (if you so desire as I do, immediate mental calm) and make a list of any spices you may need to replenish and purchase.

Based on the alphabetization of my current spice jars, I worked one jar and one label at a time. I labeled the new blank jar with my new modern sticker (fun crafting as I said). Then I grabbed the funnel supplied with the jars and poured spices from the original jar into the new and improved spice jar. It was a tedious process, but someone had to do it and frankly it was one of those cathartic tasks that filled an otherwise empty day. It was calming and crafty all at the same time.

Really I got what I was after, the results were what I wanted most. The crafting and calming task just made for a fun in-home project. What I ended up with was a drawer now organized with cohesion, that makes cooking far more simple. It also makes my grocery runs a lot easier too. With a little planning, my most frequently used spice jars are always full.

A simple task, a little project and a quick tidy up it was.