Reusing jars around the house

Jars can be one of the handiest things around the house, you just need to see the potential in them! How many jars do you throw in the recycling bin each week? I know I recycle plenty but I do keep the sizes I like and reuse often. Jars are basically free water glasses, coffee mugs, home decor, piggy banks and so much more.

Where can you get jars from?

If you don’t have access to jars because maybe you don’t buy anything that comes in jars or at least not good-sized jars, then start looking at op shops, generally you can find them for between 10 to 50 cents. Some shops will charge up to a couple of dollars for the larger jars but considering how much use I get out of my jars it is so worth it!

For this post, I don’t just want to show you a round-up of ideas you’ve already seen on Pinterest. I want to take you through my very un-Pinterest-worthy home and show you all the real-world ways I use jars to store, sort, and tidy. Here are the 14 different places I use recycled jars around our home.

The muffin man jar

First up is my muffin jar. I’ve been baking mini-muffins for the kids lunchboxes every week for the last year or so and this jar is the perfect size! I keep a batch in the cupboard and freeze the rest, getting them out to thaw when the jar is empty. In the past I have struggled with assigning a specific job to something, I like things to be multi-purpose so that if my plans change, which they do regularly, my muffin jar isn’t specifically branded and I can just switch it to a change jar! In an attempt to get over that struggle, I have just started decorating some of my jars using vinyl and my Cricut Joy machine. (Side note - those that have had a Cricut Joy, how long was it before you upgraded to a larger machine? I’m feeling the limitations of the small machine!)

So I cut this vinyl label and put it on my muffin jar and it makes me smile, and gave every member of my family a laugh so it’s well worth the time I spent on it.

The change jar

I found this mammoth jar at an op shop nearby and it was only $4! It did come with a lid, but of course that got knocked down behind the back of the bookshelf so we will be re-united with it when we move house! This was another one that I recently decorated with my Cricut machine as a nice little reminder that ‘Change is good’! This jar just sits in our room and is a constant reminder to put our change in there and save our pennies.

The toothpaste jar

Full disclosure - I thought of this idea while I was going through the jar stash a few weeks back to get rid of the different-shaped jars that I just don’t use so this is a recent addition. I’ve had this old toothbrush holder since we first moved our around 12 years ago and have just never updated it. I much prefer the clear jar now because I can actually see when the inside is dirty and needs cleaning. Before it was a pain to clean and I couldn’t just put it in the dishwasher to clean it!

And yes I did clean my bathroom just to get a much prettier after photo - doing it for the blog guys!

The sewing kit jar and random craft jars

Back into our bedroom/study, these jars contain a mixture of things like googly eyes and random craft items, hot glue sticks, measuring tapes and a sewing kit. Keeping these in this thrifted tray has been super handy and helped me keep these items organised and out of the kid’s way.

To go coffee cup

This handy little Saver Sleeve turned this jar into my favourite to-go coffee cup. I got this from Go for Zero, go and check them out, they have a massive range of products!

Herb jars and the pantry jars

Oh my kitchen has so many jars in it now! It’s a slight obsession, but given it is useful, that’s ok right?

Now that I’m going through these I am seeing ways I can make these prettier - matching lid colours in the pantry, swapping all the herbs into old Salsa jars so they are the same size, I’m going to have a play around with this more! But I’m not going to delay publishing this blog post just so I can pretty these up. This is real life friends!

Flour jars

Now maybe these don’t count because they are actually large-sized (6 cup) Mason jars I got from Marketplace, but I think it counts to help give you ideas of what you can use jars for.

I haven’t cooked with flour too much for the last few years but now that I am making our own bread, sourdough, pizza dough, I use flour so much more often and am really benefiting from having these often-used flours in handy jars rather than those paper packets that the kids always manage to rip!

Home decor jars

I am only starting to dabble with upcycling jars, if you paint them you can’t then use them for food or drink, so I like to keep them mostly clean. I have spray painted a couple of lids with cheap-o spray paint from the $2 shop, but it has scratched very easily so I would definitely need to buy some better quality spray paint if I wanted to try that one again! I saw this upcycle on Pinterest that used just paper straws to wrap the jar in and then hold dried flowers. We had some dried baby’s breath and eucalyptus leaves from my sister-in-law’s wedding a little while back, and I thought this upcycle would be a perfect way to display them. I am super happy with how it came out!

For this, I used a vegemite jar and a straight glass jar from the variety shop nearby.

I find I prefer to have practical things around the home, I don’t have much in my home that is just there for looks. For example, I have one jar that I currently have sitting out as decor… and every time I look at it, it bugs me that it is empty! I wish it were holding something or being useful for something!

Keeping my sourdough starter

I found a solid Fowlers jar at an op shop recently and while it is technically a preserving jar, given it was only $3 and didn’t come with a lid, I’m counting this in my list. I just use a silicone cover to put over the top of the jar and it keeps my sourdough starter ‘Edna’ nice and safe. The thing I love most about this jar is the fact that it is a wide mouth, that makes it super easy to mix the starter in the jar without tipping it out every time.

Recycling glass bottles for our homemade kombucha

As I spoke about in this previous post about things I now make instead of buy from the supermarket, we make our own Kombucha at home. A little while back we went through a stage where we lost the love for it and just weren’t making it. After a little brain wave, really a captain obvious moment, I realised we could grab some glass bottles and portion out our kombucha into them to be able to grab and go a bottle of kombucha and it really re-ignited our love for the drink! We now make a new batch every 5 days or so, with the kids loving to grab a bottle and drink it too!

Chia puddings to take to work

I don’t have any photos of this because I don’t go to ‘work’, and hubby leaves before it’s light so I don’t get the chance to take a photo. But trust me, these Dill Pickle jars make the perfect size to make a chia pudding and leave space to add coconut yoghurt and fruit to top it with.

Making our own yoghurt & coconut yoghurt

I’ve been exclusively making our own yoghurt for about 10 months now, and have just begun making our own coconut yoghurt too. Having glass jars for this is super handy. I’ve worked out that if I make a 2-litre batch of yoghurt, then it fills these two large jars perfectly.

I love the dill pickle jars above for the coconut yoghurt too. They are the perfect size for one tin of coconut milk.

Paintbrush water jar

My kids love painting, I know that’s not only my kids, most kids love painting. And I used to grab just a kids plastic water cup, but it always grossed me out that somehow that cup would make it back into circulation. So I switched to grabbing one of these jars, I find the salsa jars are great for this. They are short and not too big and perfect for holding dirty paintbrush water!

The lolly jar

While this is not technically a jar - this was a thrifted glass container that I am putting in the jar category! This is where all our kids’ lolly bag goodies go, and one random leftover easter egg that I’m sure Owen has forgotten about. (Oh and also the leftover of the bulk bag of rice we buy, that goes into these big glass canisters too.)

Do you have a favourite jar type or shape you reuse all the time?

Is it just super grown-up to have a favourite jar or is it a little bit sad? Either way, this is where I am with my life now, using jars anywhere and everywhere and actively looking for them in all the op shops I go into!

I’d love to know your favourite jar shape, ie what product came in that jar you reuse all the time!

Share it with me!

Special mention goes to this Glasshouse candle jar I’ve had for years and years holding my crochet hooks!