I am slightly jar obsessed – as soon as we finish something that comes in a jar, I wash it out and try to use it for something else. I see a lot of ads for storage containers, mostly for food, and whilst some of them are really useful and necessary, glass jars are really versatile and something you already have (if you buy stuff in glass jars). Below, I’ve listed some of the ways I use jars around my home, including a couple of little craft projects!
Food Storage
The most obvious use of jars is to store food. This is really straightforward with big jars that you can purchase specifically for storing things like spaghetti, flour and other foods that come in big quantities. Using the smaller ones can be harder, but there are loads of things in our kitchens that you can often get in smaller quantities. For example, I use small jars (think like honey sized jars) for loose teas like earl grey, peppermint and green. I don’t drink large quantities of these teas, therefore it’s easy for me to use small jars to store them. This also goes for nuts and seeds, which I also have in small quantities. The smallest jars I use in the kitchen are the ones that spices usually come in. For these, I tend to reuse them for spice rubs to use in curries, on tofu or in soups.
Cosmetic Storage
I’ve mentioned this in a couple of posts, but I use jars to store the cosmetic things I use like face masks and scrubs. I have a couple of tiny jam jars that I use for things like my lip scrub (which was featured in my last post), coconut oil and dry shampoo. These jars are just the right size for small quantities like this. The bigger jars I use for face masks, scrubs and more coconut oil (of course). One that is a little bit more strange, is the candle holder that I use to keep cotton buds* in. This is more of an aesthetic thing to be honest – I love having them within reach and they look really cute. Again, this candle holder is the perfect size for them.
Candles
I love candles, and I particularly love having them in things other than candle holders. There are two little creative projects that I’d like to talk about here. The first is about the small ramekins that puddings come in from the supermarket. I haven’t bought any of these in a long time, but the last time that I did, I saved the glass, and I now use them for candles. The only thing about this that is slightly DIY is fitting the candle into the holder. All I did was put the candle into some hot water until it was soft, and then cram it into the holder. I then put any excess wax into the gaps. These are really cute, and although they involve a tiny bit of effort, it’s really not a lot.
The second is a little more artistic. I love painting, and some of my old watercolours have gone hard and are not very usable anymore. So, I got some different jars that I wanted to make into tealight holders, specifically for outside in the garden. I selected a couple of colours, then dribbled them into the jars. Then, I put about a teaspoon of water into the jar, and swirled the colours around with a paintbrush. I dried them upside down in the sun, and turned them over when they were almost dry. Because the paint is on the inside, you get really pretty colours when you light the candles! I love these, particularly for summer, because they’re bright and colourful, and you can keep them and use them. Once you don’t want to use them anymore, you can wash the watercolour out and recycle them.
I hope that this post maybe opened you up to a few more ways of using jars – are there any others that I haven’t mentioned that you do? As always, thanks for reading, I hope everyone is well!
Sources:
*Cotton Buds – the cotton buds I use are biodegradable bamboo cotton buds by Just Little Changes.
Waste Makes Waste 