Do you reuse product containers for other purposes? One of my readers uses a baby wipe box to hold art supplies for on the road. Another uses ice cream containers (the big plastic ones) to sort her seasoning packets in the pantry. My mother-in-law saves every plastic container with lid for leftovers.
I’ve also heard about using baby food jars for arts and crafts, to sort scrapbooking supplies, beads and more. Or using coffee canisters to sort small toys in the kids rooms.
So do you do anything creative with product containers?
Be sure to catch up on all the previous Let’s Save Some Money posts.
Shara J. says
I use egg cartons to hold my Wilton paste food coloring jars. The little containers fit perfectly into the egg holes. The egg carton keeps all of them corralled in one place and when it gets messy I just toss it and replace with another egg carton.
I wash out all peanut butter containers and in the summer time my hubby drills holes in them. The kids catch lightening bugs (fireflies) and we put them in the containers. Don’t worry, we release them before the end of the night.
We reuse butter tubs and yogurt containers for leftovers. When my mom joins us she can take home leftovers and I don’t worry about getting the dish back.
Gwen says
i keep all my peanut butter jars….We use Jiffy. I wash them out and let the kids or our youth group decorate the outside with scrapbook stuff. We use contact paper to wrap around it. I’ve used them to give gifts, chore charts, I’m bored jars, anything you can imagine and they are super cute!
Valerie says
I use Cool Whip/Cottage Cheese containers to take with me to the farmers market to keep my berries safe (I punch holes in them with a screwdriver and layer paper towels in the bottom). I also keep a few container in my car with a bottle of water for when we take the dogs to the park. All my plastic berry/greens containers and egg cartons go with me to the farmers market as well. If I don’t use them by the end of my trip I give them to the vendors. They are always so thankful and sometimes they will give me a free item (pint of berries, cucumber etc…).
judith uhlak says
When I get a gift in a decorative box ( such as a hat box) I store all my grandsons small toys in them. He can recognize which box has what he is looking for, and I have all his toys in pretty boxes, and since his play area is in my living room, not only is it practical but pretty too!!
Angela D. says
My hubby said to mention we also use an old scoop from our baby’s formula can as a coffee scooper..we just bought a coffee maker and didn’t realize that coffee cans didn’t have scoopers inside..using a spoon was a pain so using the formula scoop was a great idea lol..
Tiphanie says
I use the butter containers as dog bowls for food and water and change them out when we get new ones. I also save the sandwich meat containers and give friends leftovers in them when i make something good they want to take. We use big red folgers coffee conntainers to store art supplies.
Cindy says
We use empty juice containers and fill them with water and freeze them for when we go on road trips. Keeps the cooler cold for a long time and we drink the water when it thaws. Worked great when we went to Disney last fall.
Amanda F says
I use the baby wipe containers to hold my sons hot wheels, plastic bags (that I keep in the car for trash collecting or a dirty diaper *gasp*. Baby food jars hold my beading supplies and anything with a lid goes in to my cabinet for leftovers. Spice jars I save for my sons teacher, she uses them for glitter and sand art.
Angela D. says
I just remembered a few other uses we have for old baby wipe containers. We use one under the kitchen sink to store plastic grocery bags (which we reuse in the bathroom/laundry room trashcans) and we also use one to store the 13gal kitchen trash bags in (just mark on outside of container the size bags lol). And I cut up carrots (or buy the small ones on sale) and stick them in a wipe container in the fridge as treats for the dogs. I use a few in our laundry room on a shelf too. They hold those stain release tabs, one is full of bleach pens and Tide to go Pens, some are used for sorting socks..then I hand over the box to the child whose socks are inside for them to mate and put away lol..I use one for stuff I find when I empty out pockets before using the washer. They are also great at holding extra candles or batteries for power outages. In the garage I use some to store stock up items like tooth brushes, toothpaste (which I take out of the boxes to fit lol), ink pens/school supplies, one is full of free samples that come in the mail, outside chalk, bubble containers..can you tell I hate to waste all the wipe containers we go through??
Also occasionally we get the paper grocery bags and use them for school book covers. My girls LOVE to draw on the covers and when they get ripped or want a new design we just get more when we go shopping lol. I did this when I was in school and I even kept some of the better drawings and put them in our hope chest lol.
Pam says
We have used the egg carton(paper) for planting seeds inside to transfer outside. All you have to do is cut the bottom off and plant. It’s GREAT!!!
Heather says
I use wipe boxes to organize my kids arts and crafts supplies. I also save Chineese take out containers for leftovers. I use mason jars (we can lots of things) over and over. I try to repurpose juice container for koolaid during the summer and my hubby uses them to take tea or lemonade back and forth to work.
Tiffani says
Egg Cartons –
Use for Paints when the kids are painting,
Also, Organize Barbie Doll Accessories! Such as all those little shoes!
Jenna says
I once knew a lady who used to go get the empty ice cream containers from baskin robbins…they are free and use them to store all sorts of toys, all her electrical cords, all sorts of stuff. :)
I reuse the diaper wipes boxes for coloring crayons, colored pencils, I keep extra first aid kit stuff in one for my car. I also saved the whip cream container and when I started making my own whip cream I usually make extra and freeze it in the old store bought container. Also I saved several of the 18 count egg cartons and use them for sorting, but also we buy the big 5 dozen pack of eggs and so I transfer them to those so they fit in my fridge versus the big box they come in. :) Plus egg containers last forever.
Megan says
I bought some counter cleaner (think it was Method or another green cleaner) bottle and it turned out that when I was done with it…it is a great spray bottle. I currently am mixing dish soap with water to spray down the counters, but it could easily be used to spray plants with a good mist of water or whatever. A spray bottle is always nice to have and I was going to buy one, before I figured out I could use this one.
Jenn says
I’ve reused a plastic coffee container as lint/trash can near the dryer because there was a shelf but no floor space for a trash can.
Reused a glass candle container as a pen holder. It’s the kind that a candle was poured into a glass. It could also be reused as a vase because it’s thick and has an interesting shape.
Rebecca Z. says
We saved a few formula cans from our babies and made them banks. I did a powerpoint with their pictures then printed slides and pasted them around the can. They turned out really cute!
danielle says
Ok i have alot, i use the wipe containers for my girls hair stuff,(3 girls) so no ones gets messed up, also use those the green ones for paper towel holder for when we do chalk or painting outside, i use the spagetti jars, for glasses for hubby and i, or i use them , i steam them to get the label off, paint the lid, and make cookie mixes to gift out at christmas, i use my lunch meat containers , for left overs the brand i use , uses glad for the lunch meat, i also use baby jars for nails ,etc for my husband garage, baby formula cans /glass jars for grease, the 1 gallon milk jugs for bird feeders / bird baths crafts for the kids, 2 letter soda plastic jars for science fair project / art project with putting water, glitter, little bit of oil or baby oil and food coloring , glue and tape the tops(2 jars) , together and the kids love it
danielle says
one more, wipe containers for crayons, and markers too, and icing containers for my ribbon, and hair clips for the hair bows i make
Tania says
When I was teaching Pre-K, we would use cans from vegetables (make sure there are no sharp points to get cut on) to hold color crayons. Use one can for each color and then we would either tape or glue paper on the can that was the same color as the crayon. Another thing we did was to take clean empty Clorox wipe containers and store yarn in them. The kids could then just pull out how much yarn they wanted to use and cut it off without the yarn getting all tangled together. I would also take in any empty food boxes, (cereal, pasta, snacks, etc.) to put in our house keeping area so that the kids could use them in their pretend play.
stephanie says
I use old diaper wipe containers for COUPONS!!!!! Its the perfect size, they close & I can easily throw it in my big purse. I have one for groceries (food) & one for household/personal items. I just made dividers from cardstock & they are the perfect length for the coupons.
Stefanie says
We reuse our pasta sauce jars, such as, Classico, for drinking glasses. Just run them through the diswasher, the label peels right off and voila, a drinking glass!
Jen says
I use old salt and pepper shakers for glitter, and small glass jars for buttons, confetti, and other crafting supplies.
Jennifer B. says
For dry seasoning and gravy packets as well as drink mix pouches, I reuse plastic mushroom trays. They are just the right width and make it easy to pull them out of the cabinet to search through.
My son uses a plastic peanut butter jar with a lid as a piggy bank. He likes seeing his money!
We also save the individual serving apple sauce/fruit cups my kids take in their lunches and run them through the dishwasher. Then, we use them the way others use yogurt cups — for snacks like Goldfish or M&Ms, or also for dipping sauces (since my kids don’t like things running together).
And I do save lidded plastic containers because they are great for leftovers.
marie says
We use the yogurt cups as containers for our own jello cups then the kids can just grab one and go outside! I have a set of pasta jars as glasses for lemonade or other festive beverages!…The jars that look like a mason jar…we have a hand held caddy filled with iv=cing containers and that is what we organize the markers colored pencils…etc…just pull the caddy out of the closet whenever. When we could find yogurt with actualy lids (or you can use small sour cream…) we keep the kids paint in them then cover…you can slit a hole in the lid and poke the brush through so no drip!
jess says
I love the the paint idea…I never let my kids paint because I can’t stand the clean up! I will be giving this method a try :)
Angela D. says
Instead of yogurt jars (my kids only like frozen GoGurts lol) I could use my baby’s used Gerber plastic baby food containers for this! They would be perfect for jello (or paint) since they have the lids and are see thru lol. Thanks for the idea!!
Melissa says
I use the plastic baby food containers to store all of my daughter’s different hair accessories.
Kimber says
I keep a baby food jar in my pantry to store Box Tops in. I don’t have kids in school yet, but I always clip my box tops and when the little jar is getting full, I give them to a friend with kids in school. I’ve also used baby food jars as candle holders (for little tea candles) – they can be quite pretty if they’re jazzed up with ribbon or (as I saw on a blog once) hanging from a tree (with yarn) at night – the little tea lights look like they’re floating.
Autumn says
Another way to jazz up tea lights in the jars is to put a thin layer of white glue on the outside then cover with cut up tissue paper, keep layering as wanted then cover up with a final coat of white glue and glitter if wanted ! I do this with my daycare kids all the time ! pink and red for valentines day and red, green and gold for christmas ect…
Alexandra says
I have seen baby food jars reused for a baby shower. The labels were removed and a baby picture of the mom was placed on the new label. Ingredients: 50% mommy, 50% daddy. The jars were then filled with after dinner mints.
ally says
that’s a super cute idea….!
Dianne says
I use empty cereal inner bags for litter bags in my car and also for kitchen peelings and such. Keeps everything neat and clean.
Valerie says
Baby food jars are perfect for organizing screws, nails, and such in the garage. We wash all plastic containers to use again. The small sour cream/cream cheese size bowls are perfect for lunchboxes! Glass containers are washed and sent to my husband’s grandmother. She makes pear preserves for us (so good!), so we help lessen her canning costs!
Barbara says
I’ve been using the plastic wipe containers to store smaller toys in, like blocks and cars. Plus, it is fun to stack them and my little guys knock them down. When I’m done I’ll throw them in the recycle bin.
Charlotte says
I use the plastic wipes containers for crayons, markers, and paints!! Instead of buying those cheap crayon boxes that aren’t ever big enough to hold anything, I just use these. Plus, they have so many cute containers now, that they actually don’t look bad sitting on a shelf!
Esther says
I love saving food containers for leftovers too because then I can send them with my husband to work and if they don’t get home, no biggie, plus he can throw them away if it’s easier. I want to hear more uses for wipes containers. I’ve been saving them, thinking there had to be some PERFECT use for them out there, but haven’t found that perfect use yet!
Angela D. says
I use a wipe container in the pantry for our seasoning packets and kool-aid packets.
briar rose says
I use butter bowls to store homemade cookie dough and homemade ice cream in the freezer. And the big ice cream buckets I put ice in so I don’t have ice falling all over my freezer. I used to keep a glass iced tea or frappacino bottle in my car cup holder (washed out of course) and put all my change in there. And then if I wanted a soda pop or snack before school or while out running around I had change to pay for it.
Heather says
That is a great idea for homemade cookie dough! I will have to do that. I was usuing my tupperware containers for it and then running out of containers for leftovers. Thanks for the idea! :)
Amanda S. says
This is kind of a one time reuse but I saved all the formula cans from when my son was a baby. Now whenever I cook something with oil or grease I just pour it in the empty can, pop the lid back on, and toss it in the trash. It’s still wasteful I know but its a lot better than all that oil going down the drain! :)
briar rose says
I’m getting ready to have lots of those, going to have to remember this tip. Thanks!!
Emily says
I do the same thing with grease, but with my empty coffee cans (we go through a lot of coffee..).
ally says
I do agree… grease and cooking oil leftovers going down the drain is absolutely horrible for not only your pipes, but for the town’s sewer system as well.
You should check and see if any of your town utilities sponsor grease recycling. The city of Mobile, AL does. They have a campaign where you pick up empty containers at the water/sewer companies, or the recycling centers. You fill it, then drop it off. They use the grease for various things around town for bio-fuel. (I think some of the buses are fueled this way now).
Give it a shot. Maybe if your town doesn’t have it, they may be interested in developing a program. It’s become pretty popular around Mobile.
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CIndy says
We do this too. we do a lot of traveling and having all boys they alos come in handy to keep in the car for those “gotta go” moments.
Cindy says
I guess I should add that they are the ones with the screw on lids.
Tabitha says
TEACHERS: Icing containers are great for storing bulletin board border. You can even tape a piece around the outside so you can find what you want at a glance. They are stackable too!
Loretta says
We buy kitty litter at walmart and the white buckets with lids have a million uses around the house. Mop bucket, washing the car, hauling water for plants, tent stakes for boy scout tents, small wood pieces for hubby’s shop, etc. LOVE THEM!
Peggy says
If you have see-through jars with lids, nail the lids to the underside of a shelf. When you store your items in them, you can then screw them into the lids and they’ll hang from the shelf. Not only is this a reusable item, but it also saves space! Fill the jars with colorful things and you have a nice decoration in addition to good storage. =)
Angela D. says
We do this too! It is great to store nails, bolts, we even hide keys in one. A friend of mine that does bead work and small craft things used to have tons of these little storage containers stacked in her office closet..when she saw our garage and the baby jars she begged for some jars then screwed the lids to a shelf above her workspace and now uses them to separate colors and keep more organized lol.
amber h says
Used yogurt containers make great snack cups for kids or paint jars. Plastic jars from nuts help keep other snacks fresh. Used egg cartons as a paint palette.