DIY Spice & Herb Jars - Save money and the Earth! скачать в хорошем качестве

DIY Spice & Herb Jars - Save money and the Earth!

I love herbs, dried edible flowers, teas, and spices and I usually purchase a ton of them throughout the year. I mostly buy from the grocery store in either bulk, glass containers, or those little $.89 plastic pouches. For years I have just used plastic zip loc bags to store my loose herbs and spices and just toss the glass jars after I was done using up the contents. I'd run out and purchase that same spice all over again and pay between $2-$5. A huge chunk of that money mind you, goes toward the glass jar and the label. Anywho, pretty soon I found that my one spice shelf in my pantry had tripled to three shelves and they were mostly in unsightly large plastic zip loc bags. Not cool on many levels. I not only felt like I was being wasteful by using tens of plastic bags, but my herbs and spices were losing there freshness and potency. So, I took to the Internets, to search for cute vintage style spice jars, and while they were reasonably priced, after shipping and handling I would have paid upwards of $60 for only 12 jars and a spice rack. Something told me to hold off for a bit. And, I'm glad I did because a light bulb went off one day as I was shaking the last bit of Crushed Red Pepper Flakes from its glass Trader Joe's jar into some pasta. Why not save these containers and make them into your own "vintage" spice jars. Duh!! Why didn't I think of that earlier??!! After this revelation, I started foraging for empty glass containers of all shapes and kinds throughout my house. I couldn't believe the amount of containers I had already right under my nose. I found old glass vitamin bottles, pint sized whiskey bottles, jars once filled with pesto, olive tapanade, and banana mango ketchup! *Shameless plug ;-) I was in glass jar heaven to say the least. But now I needed to figure out how to take off the labels and sticky label glue to make the jars look purdy. I found that hot soapy water and a scrub sponge are the best ways to achieve this goal. I even recorded the whole process just to show you guys how easy and fun this DIY project was. Check it out and give it a try. You'll not only have fun but you'll save some money and reduce the amount of waste you create. OH!! One last tip! I also use the smaller jars that are 3 oz or less to store lotions, soaps, shampoos, conditioners etc., in my carry-on luggage when flying. Please only do this for carry-on bags. Do not pack glass in your checked bags, in case you didn't already know that :-)