16 Clever Ways To Reuse Empty Spice Jars

It is such a shame to throw away a glass jar! If you're one to keep any glass container you purchase, chances are you have a closet full of empty spice jars. Every time you finish the garlic powder or dried parsley, you add another inconveniently small glass receptacle to your collection. But before you hold onto them for so long that you eventually get frustrated and drop them in the recycling bin, take a look at our list of ideas for how to upcycle this kitchenware creatively. 

Believe us; there is at least one idea in this list that solves a problem for which you've been looking to find a solution. Whether you need a place to store your bobby pins or your toothpicks, or you're looking for a container to house your magic spells, those extra spice jars clanging around in your craft closet are about to come in handy.

Empty spice jars are the perfect container for your plant propagations! You don't need a lot of room to pop them in water and get the process started, so spice jars take up just the right amount of space. As shown in this photo, it can also help to use the shaker top with the holes, especially if you are propagating more than one plant at the same time in a single jar.

Whether you make your sprinkles from scratch (yes, you can make them at home) or have a large container of store-bought ones in your pantry, transfer them into a spice jar to portion out a perfect amount into your meals and recipes! It makes a great sprinkle shaker for your ice cream sundaes so all your dessert dreams can come true.

A small spice jar vase makes a great gift for coworkers or friends with a desk job, especially if you spruce up the jar itself. Cloak it in a crochet cover, as pictured above, or if you're not quite as crafty, wrap it in colored yarn and/or twine for a rustic yet festive look, and just pop a few small stems of flowers in it.

If you have the opportunity to bring a little bit of nature inside, take it! Plants are mood boosters, even if they're small. A spice jar-sized terrarium, aka a jarrarium, is great because it's manageable in size and brings some joy and peace to your surroundings, even adding green, decorative charm to the room.

You have empty spice jars in your kitchen and a bunch of loose paper clips in your office drawers ... see where we're going with this? Spice jars can make adorable displays for your smallest, peskiest office supplies, including thumb tacks, rubber bands, staples, and more. You'll never lose them again, and you'll always be able to find what you need because it will be visible from your workspace!

Transporting salad dressing in a lunchbox is never an easy feat. Plastic containers often leak, leaving your whole meal oily and wet. Not only are spice jars the perfect size for your lunch salad vinaigrette, but the tops are also often quite airtight, meaning there's less of a chance for leakage.

Maybe you're someone who needs an entire spinning spice rack of different types of glitter. Or maybe you're not! Either way, there are other art supplies that your extra spice jars could be perfect receptacles for. Think googly eyes, mini pom-poms, plastic gems, beads, and other small objects that are always difficult to keep organized.

The flimsy cardboard box that toothpicks often come in always bursts open, sending those tiny wooden sticks flying into the crevices of your junk drawer. Well, by using the spice jar hack to store them, that particular tiny horror is no more! Moreover, using the shaker top could help you dislodge one or two toothpicks at a time as well, making it functional as well as convenient storage.

If you're someone who takes a lot of medication or supplements, using your extra spice jars as pill boxes is a great option, whether you're at home or traveling. Bonus points if you label them with the time of day for each dose. Extra bonus points if you use old-school vintage Danbury Mint Hummel spice jars for your medication needs.

It may seem like cheating to claim that you should use spice jars for, well, spices, but we're talking homemade blends here! Use your extra jars to make yourself a perfect mix of cinnamon and sugar or combine ingredients for an easy dry rub mixture that you don't have to remake every time you want to sprinkle it on your chicken or ribs.

Have you ever seen a more brilliant image than an old spice jar holding bobby pins? It's like it was meant to be. Let your spice jars fulfill their potential for toiletry wrangling. Hair ties, floss picks, Q-tips ... imagine a world where they all had a place that wasn't everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Isn't it wonderful?

Those toiletries that are now so perfectly organized in different spice jars in your bathroom? Well, now you can use another spice jar to compile a convenient little travel kit for any trip you take. Drop a few Q-tips and bobby pins in there. You can even squirt some body wash or shampoo into another, as long as it has an airtight lid. And just like that, you're good to go!

Spice jars are the perfect size for homemade fly traps to keep those pesky pests out of your kitchen. This Reddit user made a mixture of apple cider vinegar, dish soap, and sugar, and distributed it among several jars, poking holes in the tops before leaving them around their bathroom and kitchen, where food is stored. This is an easy, natural way to keep your home bug-free!

Did you know that spice jars make perfect spell bottles? Well, welcome. This specific spell bottle from @witchymusingss on Instagram is a protection spell. Here's their tutorial: "Smoke cleanse your jar and layer in sea salt, dill, coriander, cinnamon stick, rosemary, cloves, sage, and tiger's eye. Seal the jar with white candle wax. Tie the jar with some jute, a dried lemon slice, and a charm for extra credit!"

Life would be measurably better if you had a dedicated cheese shaker that you brought with you everywhere. That's just a fact. And you can have exactly that if you just let your spice jar imagination run wild. Fill that sucker up with parmesan and you'll never be cheeseless again. It's the only way to live, to be honest.

Bust out the polymer clay and transform your spice jars into the cutest little fairy houses. They can make adorable decor for your home or, better yet, put them in your yard so the fairies will find them! This is a great craft idea for kids ... or for those who are kids at heart.