This $5 DIY Spice Rack Uses the Most Unexpected Dollar-Store Find

I regularly scour social media for cleaning and organizing trends, and while I usually leave feeling inspired to clean my own space or try a new tool or product, sometimes I’m left in awe by people’s ingenuity and creativity. This is what happened when I recently watched an Instagram video from @homegoodiys, who shares all kinds of organizing and craft hacks — many of them using items she finds at Dollar Tree in unexpected ways. When I saw an organizing hack involving spice storage, I had to try it for myself. 

You’ll never guess what the “organizer” was: picture frames! It’s amazing how some people’s minds work; how they see completely out-of-the-box opportunities in items intended for something specific. In this case, the super-simple acrylic picture frames are the horizontal ones that you slide a picture into from the side and have a stand integrated on the back.

As Home Goodiys demonstrates, these picture frames can be turned into an in-drawer spice rack in just a few seconds. Mind: blown! To do this, take a non-skid grip shelf liner, line the bottom of the drawer, and then configure the picture frames so that where the picture would be is parallel to the bottom of the drawer, or facing up. Line the picture frames along the bottom of the drawer, all facing the same direction and then set your spice bottles on them. 

Eager to try the idea myself, I got some of the same 4×6 picture frames and put them in my drawer. This was a narrow drawer, so I could only fit one row of picture frames inside it. Also, I didn’t get the non-grip drawer liner and my picture frames definitely slid around. Switching the direction the frames were slanted helped them not slide as much, but if I were going to use this storage solution permanently, I’d definitely need some of the liner.

Putting the spice jars on the picture frames was satisfying and I love being able to see the spices in the bottles (as well as their lid labels). Once I filled the drawer with as many spices as would fit, I had an unwelcome surprise: I found that the drawer wouldn’t close! This turned out to be an easy fix, though, and it was good that I had a bit of wiggle room in the drawer. To make the spices fit (and allow the drawer to close), I simply spaced the frames a little further from each other, which made the spice bottles fit a bit more flat in the drawer.

Of course, you can buy actual in-drawer spice racks, but even the less expensive ones will set you back $14 or so. The Dollar Tree spice drawer organization hack costs only a few dollars, making it a tried-and-true, budget-friendly alternative to most of the spice storage solutions out there. You could also use this DIY spice rack for tons of other areas in the house — for toiletries, arts and crafts, baby shoes, kids’ books, you name it.

If you’re not near a Dollar Tree — or don’t want to order the minimum of 24 plastic frames — here’s an Amazon option for only a few cents more per frame that looks like they should definitely work for this hack. Happy organizing!