{create} organizing labels

I think everyone agrees that it's much easier to cook in an organized kitchen. I'm much happier when I don't have to dig for an ingredient, or better yet, GUESS if this is what I think it is. That's always scary! I've been slowly working on our kitchen organization for about ... the last year. These things take time :). It started when I organized and labeled our spices. Loved the result. So I started thinking about ways I could better organize our dry goods. See, being a gluten free household is a little high maintenance. We have all sorts of different flours and starches hanging around ... most of which we buy in bulk. So they're in those unsightly plastic baggies with twist ties (which I always manage to lose). Last summer I bought glass jars and transferred all our flour, seeds, rice, oatmeal, etc. to the jars.

Instantly, we had more space and it was so much more organized. I slapped sticky notes on the jars until I could find time to apply the labels I made ... back in August. Friends, tapioca starch looks an awful lot like brown rice flour. And it's really hard to tell the difference a when a sticky notes flies out of the cabinet and wedges itself under the stove. Just sayin'.

So last week I took the time (all 30 minutes of it) to cut out and apply labels. I made labels for the tops of all the jars, and for the sides.

Some sides have special ingredient directions.

Some are just simple labels that are easy to see in the cabinets.

So now our fridge look more organized.

And pulling flours out of the cabinet is is easy! This really makes finding a certain ingredient a breeze. And while doing this I was also cleaning (of course. More to come on that later), and found five more ingredients need new jar homes! So, I'll be making more labels stat.

So, how can you make your own? 

• First, design a template, or download the one I made up here: jars.jpg. You can easily download the template into Microsoft Word and then type your ingredients over the .jpg.
• Next, print. I chose to print mine onto sticky paper (such as this). Everything I labeled is in jars that I won't be washing often and this just made sense for us. If you're going to be labeling something that'll be washed a lot or you're just worried about man-handling, simply print your labels, laminate (or cover with clear contact paper!), and cut out. Apply with double sided tape, or even velcro.
• Last, stick to your jars!  And, say goodbye to unsightly plastic bulk baggies :)

I LOVE easy upgrades that make a HUGE difference! 

How do you all organize your kitchen cabinets? I'd love to hear all your great ideas for keeping things clean and uncluttered!