Spice Drawer.

Warning! This a post so trivial, only my mother could love it.

I buy bulk spices. I'm lucky enough to be able to do this at my normal grocery store, but I would probably make a special trip if I couldn't. I can't stand paying five to seven dollars for a glass jar of spices when I only need a teaspoon. Plus, that big jar of spices gets old and looses its freshness. So, aside from the aesthetic, jarred spices are a complete waste of money. The problem with bulk spices, however, is that you have no nice glass jar to store them in.
For awhile I just had tiny bits of various spices stored in the bags I bought them. Then there was the failed experiment of the filing system of spices. Put the spices in small zip lock bags, buy a storage bin sized to store photos, make divider cards and store them alphabetically. This didn't work for a variety of reasons: it took up too much space, the spices migrated to other parts of the box, it was a pain to try and see how much of each spice there was.

Right around the time we moved, I bit the bullet and bought a bunch of plastic spice jars from a supplier on the internet. I put the spices in the jars and wrote labels for the top. Then, hurrying to finish the job, I shoved them all in the drawer. For the last nine months, I've regretted that decision. There is a reason that spice sets always come alphabetically. Sometimes I could locate what I wanted quickly, but most of the time I would have to touch each spice to find the one I needed.
So, the other day I bit the bullet and alphabetized the damn things.
And now I can cook in peace.