Stop Losing Your Small Tools And Start Organizing Them With Old Mason Jars

When you get down to the nuts and bolts of it, it's difficult to perform any DIY project without the proper tools. That means you have to be able to find them, including small tools and tiny pieces of hardware like, for example, nuts, bolts, screws, nails, and more. While you may already know about using Mason jars to declutter your kitchen cabinets, these containers are also a great way to corral the odds and ends in your shop. The best part is you probably already have old jars that are sitting unused — until now. Or, if you don't have any spare ones lying around, there are plenty of sizes and styles to purchase new, like these 16-ounce glass Mason jars.

These clear containers offer visibility, so you can easily see which items you have on hand. While you're getting your tools and hardware organized, it's a good idea to separate the items by size or type into different jars. You can add labels so you remember which jar holds what size or, if you still have the original containers from when you bought your fasteners, you can cut off that portion of the label and place it inside the Mason jar in a position that you can read it.

Where you put your Mason jar tool storage is, of course, up to you. Leaving your jars loose or placing them in a bin or crate offers portability. You can attach your Mason jars to a pegboard or, if you tend to work from a stationary spot, you could mount a Mason jar storage rack on your garage wall, workbench, or floor. Building such a storage rack can be an easy DIY project and, if you use scrap wood and reused Mason jars, it's also inexpensive (possibly even free). If you need just a few of your small items for a particular project, you could temporarily rehome them from the Mason jar storage into a portable small parts organizer.

Another popular DIY method of organizing your Mason jar tool storage is to mount the jar lids to a board, which can be attached to the underside of a shelf or cabinet to maximize your available space. Nail or screw through the underside of the Mason jar lids to attach them to the board, affix the board where you want it, then fill your Mason jars with your hardware or tiny tools and screw the filled jars into the lids. Next time you need that particular item, you'll unscrew the jar from the lid for easy access to your small items. It's possible to achieve a similar effect when storing small screws and other items by adhering jar lids to a magnetic strip.