How to Organize Office Supplies with Mason Jars
As I PCS from house to house, I’m starting to realize that sometimes organization solutions can become clutter that I have to figure out how to store. Going forward, I’m looking for things that can be used in multiple ways. Mason jars are one of the most versatile storage containers I’ve found.
When we lived in Germany, we had a lot of fruit trees in our yard so we stocked up on Mason jars to do our own canning. We still had some brand new jars when we moved, and I’ve found that I use them all around the house:
- In the bathroom as a toothbrush/toothpaste holder, and container for cotton balls.
- In the kitchen to securely hold homemade salad dressing and pantry items.
- In the craft room and playroom to group small things together.
- Outside as inexpensive vases for garden parties.
Most recently I used one pint jar, circled by six half-pint jars to organize my office supplies. A small bread basket that I happened to have on hand neatly holds all the jars. The basket easily moves from my desktop to the floor when I need a little more working space on my desktop. This is how it all breaks down:
- Pint jar - Scissors, ruler, box cutter, mini stapler, stamps
- Half-pint jar - Highlighters
- Half-pint jar - Permanent markers
- Half-pint jar - Paperclips
- Half-pint jar - Pens
- Half-pint jar - Colored pens
- Half-pint jar - Pencils
Your supplies will likely be different than mine but you can follow the same process to get organized:
- Gather all of your supplies together.
- Pile like things together.
- Pull out uniform things from each group, for example same brand pens, same shape highlighters, etc.
- Put smaller groups in jars for an attractive display. Discard orphaned items or store out of sight.
- Finish by corralling jars on a tray or in a basket.
What are your favorite ways to organize with Mason jars?