8 Brilliant Ways to Reuse Glass Jars

All throughout the year, glass jars are in season. Pickle jars, mustard jars, jam jars, peanut butter jars, Mason jars. Tall ones, short ones, blue ones, clear ones. Glass jars can be found in all sizes and colors. They are omnipresent, in abundance and infinitely useful. Glass jars can surely be recycled when you are through with their contents, but do they have an even higher purpose?

Here are 8 ways to prove it.

1. Waterproof camping storage

When you’re boating or camping, keeping things like matches and paper money dry can be a challenge. Store items that you don’t want to get wet in clear jars with screw tops that can’t pop off. Even if you’re backpacking, plastic peanut butter jars are light enough not to weigh you down, plus they provide more protection for crushable items than a ziplock plastic bag.

2. Create workshop storage

Don’t let workshop hardware get mixed up. Keep all your nails, screws, nuts, and bolts organized by screwing jar lids to the underside of a wood or melamine shelf. (Make sure the screw won’t poke through the top of the shelf.) Then put each type of hardware in its own jar and screw each jar onto its lid. You’ll keep everything off the benches, and by using clear jars you can find what you need at a glance. This system works well for storing seeds in the potting shed, too.

3. Make a piggy bank

Encourage thriftiness in your child by making a piggy bank out of any jar with a metal lid. Take the lid off the jar, place it on a flat work surface, such as a cutting board, and tap a screwdriver with a hammer to carefully punch a slot hole in the center. Use the hammer or a rasp to smooth the rough edges on the underside of the slot to protect from scratches. Decorate with paints for a fun rainy-day project.

4. Collect insects

Help your children observe nature by gently collecting beetles and other interesting insects in clear jars. Punch a few small airholes in the lids for ventilation. Don’t make the holes too large or your insects will escape! And don’t forget to let the creepy crawlies go after you’ve admired them.

5. Cut out cookies

Just about any clean, empty wide-mouthed jar is just the right size for cutting cookies out of any rolled cookie dough.

6. Bring along baby’s treats

Dry cereal can be a nutritious snack for your baby. And there’s no need to bring the whole box when you leave the house. Pack individual servings in clean, dry, baby food jars. If they spill, the mess is minimal.

7. Make baby-food portions

Take advantage of the fact that baby food jars are already the perfect size for baby’s portions. Clean them thoroughly before reuse, and fill them with anything from pureed carrots to vanilla pudding. Attach a spoon with a rubber band, and you’ve got a perfect take-along meal when you travel with your little one.

8. Use jars to dry gloves or mittens

If you live in a cold-climate area and shoveling snow is just part of the winter routine, no doubt you’ll be wearing gloves or mittens. To help your gloves or mittens dry out after working in the snow, pull each one over the bottom of an empty jar, then stand the jar upside down on a radiator or hot-air vent. Warm air will fill the jar and radiate out to dry the damp gloves in a flash.