DIY Bucket Organizer

This is a very cheap and easy way to get organized not only when carrying fasteners and the like when working around the house but in your shop as well.  I've been doing this for years and it works like a charm.  Forget paying for the organizers and bucket bags and the home improvement stores.

This type of organization is superior to the store bought bucket organizers as one has screw on lids so if you drop them, your nails, screw, etc will not go flying everywhere.

Step 1 Gather your materials

Materials are pretty easy and cheap.  Get yourself a good 5 gallon bucket.  Restaurants usually are a good place to get them or just pilfer one off of a job site.  Peanut butter jars are next.  Save them from your own home or, again, pilfer them from a recycling yard.  Be sure to keep extra lids on hard (this is important).  Optional: either good, study carboard or plywood of your choice.  Make sure both the bucket, jars and lids are clean.

Comments

[mmv5004]

Nice job! This is how much of my grand-father's workshop was organized, and I thought about writing an instructable one it too.

[ukphoneguy]

GR8 idea been doing it for some years but I changed to plastic jars after breaking several of the them. Shops get sweets in them and throw them away when MT.

[brodiemac]

I am working on making an IT version of this for cabling purposes. A spool of cable in the bottom with a separator, then jars on top with items like RJ-45 connectors, network jacks, etc., and then tools on top. Probably won't make any real progress until spring when it's a bit warmer.

[manderw]

How about if you made either a keyhole slot in the lid (like you get on the back of things like fire alarms, etc.) so that you can just grab the whole jar, rather than messing around with extra lids? Or put a loop of some kind on the top of the lid and use hooks instead?

I think I might try something like this with my tool cabinet from hell...

[steliart]

Yeap it works, I had this setting some time ago and it served me well

[Dumchicken]

do you mean on hand?

[winjama]

You, like me, must eat a lot of peanut butter. I use these handy jars for all my small bits in my workshop. Thanks for sharing.