31 thoughts on “How To Repurpose Glass or Plastic Jars, Denim, Socks & More Instead Of Throwing Away”

1. Carole Garrett at

   I was born and raised in East Texas and had farm/ranch experience before moving to San Diego over fifty years ago. I have been doing nearly all of the suggestions that others are doing. Yes, you can live like you are in the country when you live in the city. My peanut butter jars hold nut, bolts, nails, etc. for my home projects and in my sewing room, bobbins, bits of ribbon, buttons, etc. for sewing. I compost, use virtually no paper products or plastic. On my fridge is a sign that reads: Please do not discard anything which may be reused, recycled, or composted. I THANK YOU, MOTHER EARTH THANKS YOU.

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2. Donna Reidland at

   I suppose there’s a little bit of hoarder in me, but there are so many things I hate to throw away. It’s nice to see your suggestions for using some of them. Have a great week in the Lord!

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   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      I’ve always thought there was a fine line between saving/repurposing things and hording, Donna. I save those plastic peanut butter jars for several uses but as I get more I rotate through the older ones & get them to the recycle bin so I don’t have too many. Same thing with the plastic bags – if I get more than I can use I’ll send them to the recycle bin. But sometimes I’ll go to grab one of the repurposed bags to put leftovers in the freezer or something and realize I have more than enough so I need to stop saving them for awhile. LOL ~TxH~

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3. daisy at

   We also use “bug jars” with our old plastic containers. We also give away caterpillars on CL, so for folks who forget to bring a jar, we always have some handy.
   I just posted about our homemade room A/C unit, made from mostly repurposed items.

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4. Judith c at

   When using jars for the freezer, stop filling when the contents are about an inch and a half from the shoulder (the inward curve) of the jar. When good freezes it expands and moves up the inside of the jar. The top is one of the places it freezes first. When that top reaches the shoulder it can’t bend or reposition to make the curve so the pressure breaks the glass. You can also buy FREEZER jars. They come in one and a half pint size and down. I don’t trust ANY plastic!! Heated or frozen. Plastics are a by products of petro chemicals. Would you put motor oil or gasoline on your food?

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   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      I use all those tips already when freezing Judith, but my freezer is a big chest freezer – it’s just not worth it to me to be looking through the freezer and have the wrong ‘clink’ send glass slivers cascading through my frozen meats & veggies. Although I shun plastic coming into the house like a ninja – passing by the shrink-wrapped produce for the bulk bins even if it’s more expensive, making my own homemade bread when possible, making sun tea in glass jars instead of consuming colas sold in plastic bottles, etc. I’ve resigned myself that plastic is a part of our lives. Milk is sold in plastic jugs, frozen foods are sold in plastic bags, toothbrushes are made of plastic (even though I’ve tried the bamboo ones). I make sure to use the plastic that comes into our home fully before throwing it in the trash or the recycle bin and plastic peanut butter jars are the perfect solution for my freezer dilemma in our household. The jars are periodically rotated to the recycle bin when they’ve done double duty and replaced with fresh jars as they become available. I’m careful to use only #1 plastic in the freezer and I never heat food in any kind of plastic. I guess it’s all about moderation and what works best in each family’s household for their specific circumstances. ~TxH~

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5. urbanoveralls at

   Love the post. We also reuse materials before they are recycled. Glass jars are my favorite. We like to use them to send leftovers home with dinner guests in addition to using them as storage.

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6. Shelle @ PreparednessMama at

   Great ideas in this post! My husband loves queso dip and it comes in a great sized glass jar. I use them for storing leftovers and herbs. Sometimes I even re-paint the tops with spray paint and make them pretty! Thanks for posting on Front Porch Friday.

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7. Vickie at

   Great post! I have been using my plastic peanut butter jars to hold my dried beans and homemade pasta! I haven’t had any problems storing glass jars in the freezer, but I do like the idea of storing broth in the plastic jars also! Thanks for all these great tips.

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8. Jennifer at

   That’s genius! I get so annoyed by oily bottles and shelves! Thanks for sharing!! So simple!

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9. Heather at

   I always wash out our glass jars to house leftovers & such. One currently has lacto-fermented garlic inside 🙂 I never thought to use the plastic ones, though. Great idea on using them to store broth! I can definitely get on board with that!!

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10. Karen at

    This is a great post! I reuse glass jars over and over for lots of things (I had a post about that last month). I love having them around.
    I’m not too fond of plastic, but haven’t found a substitute for zip-top bags. I always wash these out and reuse them, unless they have had raw meat in them. They get used until they spring a leak or get torn up.
    I love your sock idea! With 9 people in our house, socks are always a not-so-exciting part of laundry, and we are forever with spare socks. Thanks for your great tips. I know what to do with those lonely ones now.
    Thanks for sharing at Wake Up Wednesday!

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11. CTY at

    Just found your site & am very excited about it.
    Oh–what to repurpose next. Socks have so many uses around here. A few favorites–tie into a chain & use a dog tug rags; tie garden plants to trellises (& those used ones will become garden weed barrier thanks to the post above); tie up a coiled ext cord when storing, they untie & retie easily too; use mitt style with warm water & a tiny bit of tree tea oil to clean pet ears; mitt style for dassh boards, “floss” between house radiator, freezer coils & the like; fill with stones for weighing down tarps; place thin pantyhose over vacuum when vacuuming blindly or looking for something small.
    But my new fav thing to re purpose are dog food bags into totes. Cut a 2″ strip from the top, fold the bag in on itself & duct tape a bottom seam, use the strip to make a handle, secure handle by using nut, bolts & washer (to prevent pull through)–when the bag is worn be sure to salvage the hardware. My main use is for food shopping bags but I use them to tote just about anything, they especially good for wet things.
    Thanx for listening.

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12. Riversana at

    I think one of the best tips I ever found was to save all the odds and ends and peelings of the fresh vegetables I use into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze them. When the bag is full I dump half into the crockpot, cover with water, and cook it until I have time to strain it out. The solids go into the compost, the veggie broth is labeled and stored. Hubbs came home last night and said “mm, something smells really good, babe!” and I had to laugh as it was just the latest pot of broth, not supper itself! I recently lost several glass jars to the freezer, so I’ll be saving the PB jars for broth as well! After that, they head to Hubb’s shop for collecting small bits and things.

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13. suzie at

    take your glass jars that have metal lids and spray paint the outside only and screw a small drawer pull into lid and you have a pretty canister that you can use for cookies, etc on your kitchen counter or anywhere in your home

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14. Laurel at

    I save cracker wrappers, cereal wrappers and the like to rewrap small bits of food (same for the celery rubber band) or a sandwich. the wrappers also come in handy to put in my container for home made bread as it keeps it fresher for another day or two longer.

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15. Holly Giles at

    Love the ladybug jars! Thanks for reminding us to re-use! So much you can do! Holly

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16. daisy at

    Love the idea of using the wide-mouth jars for leftovers. We buy Corning Ware and Pyrex at thrift stores for the same thing.

    I have two large plastic coffee containers (found in neighbors’ recycle bins). One is used for coffee grounds and eggshells and the other is kept in our freezer as a makeshift compost bucket. Both are emptied into the garden when full.

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    1. CTY at

       Daisy–love the idea of freezing the compost items until they can be walked out the the pile. The freezing will also expedite the breakdown–genius!

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17. Terri at

    I LOVE the glass jars (wide mouth especially) for leftovers. I’ve managed to reduce our food waste to about 1% with this simple trick.

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18. Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage at

    Jars, old t-shirts, socks, dishes, most anything can be repurposed somehow.

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19. Kalamity Kelli at

    I love your ideas for peanut butter jars – I have a thing about repurposing plastic containers! My favorite thing to repurpose is my husband’s coffee containers – he drinks lots and lots of coffee and those wonderful containers just need a little help to look beautiful and then organize your kitchen, your child’s room, a teacher’s room – the bathroom – gosh, just about anything!

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20. Linda @ A La Carte at

    I always take my jars to recycle but I like the idea of them holding leftovers. I really like the idea of the plastic pb jars with broth in them. Great idea! I think you have so many great ideas for reusing items. Thanks for sharing this at TTF this week.

    Linda

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21. Lani at

    Reusing stuff is a definite must in this day and age! We recycle all our old clothes while they’re still in good nick by donating them to charity, same too with books and any household stuff. In general, we just try not to buy a lot of things and we plan our weekly meals carefully so there’s no wastage and things thrown out.

    My best recycling tip is using my kids’ drawings as wrapping paper – makes the most gorgeous and unique gift wrapping!

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22. Candy C. at

    Great ideas! I like to repurpose glass jars from the store too but I never thought about the peanut butter jars. I really like the bug catchers you made for the grandkids! 🙂

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23. Lynn@Southern Direction at

    I’m a jar saver too. I also save every plastic container such as butter bowls. They always come in handy. Why waste what you can use.

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24. Elizabeth at

    You can actually get one more use out of those socks! You can use them as weed barriers! I use holey socks as cleaning cloths and dust rags. I have arthritis in my thumbs so it makes it hard to hold a cleaning cloth. Solution? Turn the sock inside out (so the terry cloth is in contact with the surface to be cleaned) and poke my hand in! Ta-Da! Anyway, after they get all gross from repeated cleaning use and washing I cut them so that they’re a flatish square and cut out a small hole in the middle, place it on the ground, then plant seeds in the hole! I’ve done this with my tomatoes for several years (holey t-shirts work well too) and it works beautifully!! By the next growing season they’re mostly decomposed!

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25. Shari at

    I’ve used my left over peanut butter jars to hold different kinds of markers and colored pencils for crafts. I was thinking with your grandchildren this might come in handy.

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    1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

       Good idea Shari – thanks! ~TxH~

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26. Pat at

    great post!
    I like to save and use jars again and again.
    I currently have in my freezer…chopped peppers, onion and tomatoes. I buy this produce at the grocer, usually in the “IFFY” basket. I bring it home and right away, wash , chop and freeze on cookie sheets. Once frozen…I scrape them loosely into the jar and put them in the freezer. Freezing them on the cookie sheet lets me sprinkle just the right amount of peppers or onions into my dish. (just be careful not to leave them out of the freezer too long, or when they are replaced…they’ll clump up again)
    I hadn’t thought of using the plastic ones for broth. But again…great idea.
    Like you… I also try to get much mileage out of socks and T-shirts.
    I like to cut the t-shirts in such a way, that it makes one long strand and I can crochet a rug or pot holders with it.
    Love chatting about these things with others who are also trying to live frugal and deliberate, when it comes to waste!
    have a great week ahead!
    Pat

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    1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

       I’ve heard of rag rugs and would love to try one sometime with strips of t-shirt material. Lightweight enough to throw in the washer when needed. OOOHHH – I’ve just got to give it a try. Thanks for the push. ~TxH~

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