Thrifty Thursday: Reusing glass containers

At first, I was hesitant to try reusing glass containers because I felt like I was going to turn into my mother with her piles of butter tubs with leftovers in them.  I am more of a everything the same size and fits together. 

For Christmas, I asked for (and received) a case of Mason jars.  You know your family listens to you when you get the weirdest assortment of gifts that you really wanted like a canning funnel and mason jars :)  Mason jars are wonderful and I highly recommend them.  I use them for my mixes in the cupboard.  I try to keep a few common things that I make with all of the dry ingredients mixed together.  This makes it easy when it is time to make it and more like making a box mix without having to buy the box.  Feel free to check out my post here.

A case of Mason jars goes quickly when there are five jars in one cupboard and three frozen jars of spaghetti sauce. 

There are also a few in the fridge with fruit stuff- grapefruit juice and mango puree.  They are perfect for holding things in the pantry, fridge or freezer so make sure to pick yourself up some if you don't already have them and I promise that you will put them to work even if you aren't canning.

But there are other ways to get glass jars!!  For years, I have been putting all of my old jars in the recycling bin and getting rid of them but recently I started to save them.  I already have two old honey containers from my dad that I am using for spices.  They are super cute and make me smile every time I get them out of the cupboard.  I also had some glass spice jars that I had used up and I cleaned them off and reused them.  Small jars like baby food jars are also great for spices.  I put a few in and even wrote on the top with a Sharpie so that I would know what was in there.  That was before I saw the post on the internet to use dry erase markers on the glass and they will clean off in the dishwasher.  Helpful hint that I am going to try next time!!  Check out these little jars... aren't they cute and perfect size for my messy spice cupboard.

I started saving some bigger jars like the Jif Hazelnut spread and spaghetti sauce.  I picked off as much of the label as I could and then throw it in dishwasher to do a little more cleaning.  They came out pretty clean but there was a little of sticky glue left on them.  Can you see the little bit of paper that is still on them??

I plan on using some stuff to take off the goop and then they will be pretty nice to use through the pantry and cupboards for different storage.  After a second trip through the dishwasher, they will be clean and sanitized.  I highly suggest saving a few and see if you can store things in the pantry, fridge, freezer, and other places in your jars!!  I think that with a little elbow grease they will be nice glass jars to love for years to come.

Is there anything you love to store in your jars?  I would love to hear what your favorite jars are?