Friday, February 5, 2010

NEW USES FOR OLD JARS

Yesterday, I went to the grocery store and a new (to me) spice store, Penzeys Spices (awesome BTW), and came home with 5 bags of nuts, seeds and spices.  I don't really care for bags of stuff in my cupboards because they always end up get lost in there where I can't find them - not to mention the chaos they create.  So, this morning I tried to find a way to deal with this slight inconvenience.


These...


went in here...



like this.  Much better.

But, you don't just have to use canning jars.  This is the only case where I actually did.  I save many of my empty glass jars that once housed spaghetti sauce, pickles, relish, fruit and the like.  They make great containers for the contents of those nuisance plastic bags.


All of this...


now looks like this.  I simply cut the labels off of the spice bags and used my glue stick (I keep one in the kitchen drawer.) to attach the labels.  Once the contents are empty, a quick soak should peel those labels right off.

Repurposed jars are also good for many other things.


These are holding math manipulatives that we use for homeschool.  I hit these lids with a coat of black spray paint.

I think that these jars would be great to hold anything small that seems to get lost (or stepped on) - think little toy characters, marbles, beads, barrettes, homemade bath salts, Q-tips, cotton balls, Nintendo games...  And with a shot of spray paint to the lid, they would easily coordinate with any decor.  Plus, it's easy to see what's inside.

Flexible, free storage.  That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Happy Homemaking!

4 comments:

kariwhite said...

You're brilliant! Absolutely BRILLIANT.

I never in a billion million gazillion years would have realized that I could glue stick labels on to my jars.

Guess who will no longer print out and tape on labels? ;)

Thank you!

~Leslie said...

I so like this idea! Not only do I not like storage bags for food. I love clear jars. Also like the idea for holding manipulatives and other household items.

Nice, nice! thanks!!

Anonymous said...

I use jars for lots of things, too. I keep herbs and dried mints that I grow in tomato sauce jars that I have dabbed paint on the outsides with a sponge or rag so as to keep out the light.

I've seen people put photographs in pretty jars. There could even be two photos back to back to it would be reversable. Add some little extras that are appropriate, like little silk flowers and ribbons where there is a little girl;s picture, or pieces of Lego with a boy's.

Pam said...

Ilene ~ You've got some great ideas that I hadn't thought of before! I love the photo jar idea. And dabbing paint on the outside for herbs is a great idea. That also has me thinking that it would be a great idea for infusing oils with herbs, too. Thanks for sharing!