This past week I was cleaning up my kitchen as I do every morning and before I knew it I was emptying out my lazy Susan cabinet and organizing my spices. My current spice set up wasn’t working for me anymore and needed to be fixed. I went back to the blog and realized that I initially set up this system in 2013, five years ago. Throughout the years I’d tweaked it here and there and it was just time for another one of those tweaks to make it work for me today. I shared some video of my organizing process on Instagram (you can still see it in my highlights) but I thought I’d do a blog post as well for those that don’t follow me over there.
With my old lazy Susan cabinet system I needed space for my overstock spices. I use to buy my spices in big bags and refill my spice jars as needed. Of course the bags held more than the spice jars ever did so there was always some leftover. That’s where these round containers came in handy. It gave me an organized place to keep all the extra.
Now that I follow a special diet to manage my Rheumatoid Arthritis, I like to stick with organic spices where possible. Organic spice bags are a lot smaller and overstock isn’t really an issue anymore. So out came the old system freeing up some extra space in my lazy Susan cabinet to be used for something else. Yay!
Also you should know that I love my lazy Susan. A lot. I think they totally get a bad rap. So many people putting Susan down, it makes me sad. Poor Susan, she is not lazy at all but so very hard working. The fact that Susan spins for a living is such a beautiful thing. You can always find what you need and nothing gets lost in the back. What’s not to love?! 🙂
So I purged all the expired spices (there were many!) and used this large 12″ turntable (affiliate link) to hold all the spices that were not expired and that I was keeping. I labeled the tops of the spice jars so I can easily find the one I want just by looking down.
I used glass spice jars from the dollar store for the spices that come in these small bags. My favorite label maker is the Dymo Letratag (affiliate link).
I added two clear bins from the dollar store, one for spice blends and the other for Beef Bouillon cubes, Chicken Broth powder and Everything Bagel Spice.
I have another small turntable (affiliate link) at the back for spices I don’t need to access regularly.
It also feels great that I now have easily accessible space for my chopper, mini food processor and apple slicer. So handy dandy!
And the bottom of my lazy hard working Susan holds my re-useable storage containers. Using containers to set limits and boundaries makes ALL the difference to an organized space.
Systems come and go, needs change. Make your spaces work hard for you! Thank you Susan for working so hard for me every single day, I love you 🙂
How do you use your hard working Susan?
See also in this series:
Small Organized Spaces: Coffee Cabinet
- *Please note that affiliate links are included in this post to make it easier for you to find what is being referenced. A small commission is made should you purchase product using these links, but this is at no extra cost to you. As always, any and all opinions are genuinely my own – or the author, in the case of posts by my guest contributors. Thank you!*
MaryJean says
Laura, I don’t have a “lazy” Susan. I wish I did. My mom had one and I loved it. I don’t have any corner cabinets and yes, I know I could implement a turntable to do the same thing in one of my cabinets. Maybe I will at some point, but I noticed your little chopper. I have one just like it and I love it! It’s just the right size for chopping and it’s easy to get to when you need it.
Great post! Next, I plan on visiting your “Small Space Organizing”.
Laura Wittmann says
Thanks so much for visiting MaryJean! I love my chopper too, easy cleanup as well 🙂
Stephanie Jane says
I love that turntable. It would be perfect for my caravan cupboard! I must see if I can get one in the UK. Thanks for sharing this tip 🙂