this is quite cute! but i'd like to hear from someone who tried it, do you ever smudge your chalk label when opening/closing??

The jars are adorable, but at a buck and half for each jar with the lids extra, they are far beyond my budget.

Nice idea. Just not accessible for some of us. Thanks for the mason jar hint, but those are probably too big even in the smallest size.

I join jess13 in worrying about the chalk getting smudged. Still, a cute idea.

I love the idea of the jars, and if I had a little more room for my zillions of spices, I'd go that route. However, I HATE the whole chalkboard paint craze. I never could stand the smell or feel of chalkboard dust, so it has no appeal to me whatsoever, especially anywhere near contact with my food.

My solution was simply to buy the round price tag stickers from Wal-Mart, write the name of the spice, and stick it on top of the container I bought it in. This worked quite well for me, as I store mine in a drawer and can easily see what I've got. Should I ever get the jars, I'd probably just punch out white contact paper and use a Sharpie.

Ugh, I am so damned tired of seeing chalkboard paint on food storage.
It's called a wax pencil people.
No smudging, but still erasable. No risk of chipping and contaminating. Usable on many many surfaces and preexisting containers. And it's ridiculously cheap.

I prefer Amanda's suggestion. It may not be as "stylish" as the matching jars, but it's way more affordable, it's environmentally responsible, and really, who cares about matching jars if you store your spices in a drawer anyway?

Her jars are charming but this whole project seems kind of design-y rather than practical (chalk smudges) or green (reuse the glass jars you have) or practical (they don't look like they would stack well) or thrifty (reuse).

i had my 5 year old write the names of the spices on tape and stuck them on the top of the jar so i can find them in a drawer more easily.
he's 11 now, and the tape looks kind of old, but I love the little kid handwriting, and occasionally misspelled name.

For my spices, I just bought some small tin containers from Specialty Bottle. They have a bunch of different sizes, so you can pick based on what you use most (although we only keep small amounts of almost everything on hand to keep it fresh). Then I took some picture frames I wasn't using and cut cardboard to fit, then used spray adhesive to glue some felt down to it and put those in the frames. Then I backed each of the tins with a strip of velcro and wrote on the lids what was in them.

Turned out pretty well and was quite cheap! I can organize them in the different frames for quicker location... ie by letter or use (baking, etc).

chalk markers don't smudge or create dust. i ordered a few dozen 1" chalkboard circle stickers from etsy, purchased a chalkboard pen, and love having my spices organized this way. I stuck them on the top of my existing IKEA spice jars and love being able to know what i'm grabbing very quickly. You can handwash the lids and unlike with stickers, the chalkboard labels don't wash away. I agree that the chalkboard junk is a little overdone these days, but this is one of my favorite things i've done to organize our house.

Also, I reuse glass jars from sauce, jam, etc. and store grains/bulk items in them. I love being able to write grain to water ratios on the side of jars for bulgar, couscous, wild rices, etc. so I don't forget and the markers and/or labels work great for that too!

Cute! What I do is use a black sharpie to write the name of the spice right on the glass. It usually washes off with a little dish detergent, or if not, definitely with acetone!

I actually just did this with a spice rack I own but wasn't very useful. All the jars came prelabeled with the spice that was in them. Now, I have little use for savoury (what is that anyway) and black peppercorns in a jar aren't very useful, I painted chalkboard paint over the black part on the jar lid that was pre-labeled and refilled the jar with spices I actually use. I haven't had a problem with smudges yet but I think if I do I can rewrite the name on the jar.

Instead of purchasing miniature jars, why not recycle baby food jars if you have them?

I used a white sharpie paint marker to write directly on the glass jars I store my spices in. No smudges like I had with the wax pencil, it shows up a bit nicer than the regular sharpie, and it still comes off with some rubbing alcohol.

I use all my empty Better Than Bouillon jars for volume spices, empty caper jars for minimal spices and various others (Penzeys) in between. I also save those little pimento jars, which are great for things like saffron, which is always a small amount. I don't buy a lot of spices at one time since they go stale - I try to buy from bulk displays at health food stores when I need to replenish.
I just stick some Scotch tape on the bottom or lid, and write with a sharpie or pen. The tape can be removed easily. But usually, you will want to use the jar for the same spice again, so you don't have to change it very often.

I like the idea of a grease pencil too. If I can find one, I'll try that.

BTW, if anyone really wants matching jars and you think the regular size canning jars are too big, there are now small (1/2 pint) jars that are very cute. They're squat with a wide mouth, so you could stack a bunch of them. I bought them at Walmart. They're the "Collection Elite" series.

Look for 4 ounce jelly jars - they don't have the 'neck' of the jars above, but are easy to spoon out of. My local hardware store stocks canning supplies in the summer and I picked up a flat of 12 jars on close out for under $10. I'll keep an eye out next year for the spice drawer.

I'm not nuts about the chalkboard paint (dust worries), but I don't object to paper lables. Lids for canning jars are not very expensive if I can't get the old label off.

o my own little apt. in a hi-rise, I befriended my neighbors & they began to drop off their empty used peanut butter bottles & instant coffee bottles, baby food bottles, all of them & cleaned up & use as storage for various spices, dry ings, & whatever else. In the freezer, I use the freezer ziploc bags. I usually use a regular storage ziploc bag, zip it up & slide it int a freezer safe ziploc bag, slide in a piece of paper with the name of the product & date, or, if it's from the frozen food section, cut out the product name & cooking instructions & slide it in the freezer bag along with the product in its original plastic baggy, rolled up to keep air out. The stuff stacks up well, & takes up less space. Then the freezer bags can be reused, as they don't come in contact with the food.