How to Create an Inventory Checklist for Organizing Spices and Herbs

Every year around this time, I organize my spices (Affiliate Link) and herbs to update expired items and determine needed ones.  Though every year, it takes me longer than necessary to organize spices (Affiliate Link) and herbs in my home.  Here are the reasons why:

Jump to:

• Why did I need an inventory checklist for herbs and spices?
• Two-Page Spice and Herbs Inventory Checklist
• The first page of the spice/herb checklist.
• Second Spices/herb checklist page content

Why did I need an inventory checklist for herbs and spices?

Below are several reasons why I created this spices (Affiliate Link) and herbs inventory list.

1. The kitchen lacks storage space, so I have four places where I store my spices (Affiliate Link) and herbs.
2. The first place I go to find my herbs and spices (Affiliate Link) is my pantry.  This place is where I store oversized bottles. Visit our post 7 WAYS TO TRANSFORM A HALL CLOSET INTO PANTRY where we stored some of our larger bottles of spices (Affiliate Link) and herbs.
3. I go to the cabinet on the right side beside my range for my most frequently used seasonings, spices (Affiliate Link), and herbs. But the cabinet isn't large.
4. I store my "only for baking spices" in my baking zone since I do not use them for anything else. That is located in a different part of my kitchen.
5. Then, I have a small supply of hanging test tubes for spices I use less frequently hanging on the backsplash. It looks like this. We bought them many years ago to minimize the larger spice bottles we had to store in the kitchen.  They hold pretty much all of our spices and herbs.

As you can see, it's a complicated system, but I did make it work. But because of this, it takes some time to go through these areas to review all the spices/herbs and make sure I have them all when we have our annual parties. So, to make a tracking list of all my inventory, I made a two-page spice list. Yes, it's two pages.

Two-Page Spice and Herbs Inventory Checklist

First, I created a list of all the spices and herbs I had in my areas. 

And, then I created a spreadsheet to display the list.  I included a column next to the name of each of the spices (Affiliate Link) and herbs to use as locations. My columns were called "Pantry (Affiliate Link)," "Cabinet (next to orange)," "Baking Station" and Test Tubes.  I left these columns blank for you to fill out your locations for your home. 

I then indicated the number of bottles I had in each area. 

So, for example, I had one bottle of cumin in the pantry (Affiliate Link) and 1 in my test tubes, so I put a 1 in my pantry (Affiliate Link) column and 1 in my test tube column. Now, I would know where and how much I had for Cumin in all the different areas.  It worked pretty well.  I was able to bring together with this inventory checklist (Affiliate Link) all the mixed spice and herb areas to know how much and where I had them honestly.

The first page of the spice/herb checklist.

The first page shows all the spices (Affiliate Link) and herbs, and then at least 4 locations you may have these spices (Affiliate Link) and herbs.

When you are doing your inventory, you can write how many bottles are in these columns from the different areas.

Second Spices/herb checklist page content

If you want to make one of your own, you can remove any of these herbs or spices (Affiliate Link) you don't use to store at home. Most likely, you can get it to one page instead of two.

If you are looking for a regular checklist (Affiliate Link), feel free to check out my other post. THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ORGANIZING HERBS AND SPICES

I hope this post helps you get your different locations organized. I used this list for several years, and the checklist (Affiliate Link) allowed me to see the 'big picture' of all my herbs and spices (Affiliate Link). No one should have to have this many places for their herbs and spices, but when you have a new home and have to deal with what you have, you need to create a creative system to manage the things you love with the space at hand. This is until you can rebuild the area to a more functional kitchen.

Below are some additional kitchen organizing posts you may want to see: