Modular Water Jug Storage Bins

Around here I have more odds and ends than I know what to do with. I used to keep it in piles strewn about our tiny apartment until my fed up girlfriend came up with a solution to make the room a little more organized.

It basically involved drinking a lot of bottled water and using the jugs the water came in to store stuff. Using her method, not only do you get a $2 rugged modular plastic storage bin, but you also get 2 gallons worth of drinkable water for free. I highly advocate such a storage system. Especially if you are overrun by small parts.

Step 1: Drink Water

Before you can even consider starting to store stuff in the plastic water jugs, you have to drink the water they're holding. It's recommended that you drink 8 full glasses of water a day. However, drinking a little more than that will not hurt you and may, in fact, be beneficial. If there are two people drinking water from the container, you should be able to go through one in about two to three days.

Step 2: Cut the Jug

When you are done drinking, cut open the jug. You should do this by slicing away the label on the front side of container. You don't want to make too large of a hole or the container will lose it's structure. You also don't want to make too small of a hole or it will be hard to put things inside. Make the hole just right (see below).

There may be a little water left inside. You can shake this water out in the sink and then let it air dry for a day or two before putting things inside. If you're really in a rush and don't care about moisture, wipe out the inside with a dry rag.

Step 3: Bundle the Jugs

Once you have completed four water jugs, you want to start bundling them together so that you can begin stacking them without worrying about the whole thing collapsing.

The 2 gallon jugs fortunately have two grooves that can be used to tie them together. I used some basic white string that I got at the hardware store.

I wrapped the string completely around the outside of the front groove on all of the four containers. On one end of the string I tied a loop using a figure-8 knot (although, any old knot should do). With the other end, I cut the line a little long and pulled the extra string through the loop I just made. I made sure the string was in the grooves all the way around the four containers. Then I folded the string all the way back and tied it onto the taught part of the string using a slipknot. I pulled this knot to make sure the bundle was very tight.

To begin with, I would then glue the slipknot in place using hot glue, but I later realized that this wasn't necessary.

I then repeated this process for the other groove until there were 2 taught bands wrapped around the whole bundle.

Step 4: Put Your Junk Away

Finally! The time has come to start organizing and putting your stuff away into your new cubbies.

Step 5: Reinforcement

The nice thing about this is that you can expand cheaply and efficiently to your heart's content.

A tip:
Once your shelving is of a considerable height and width (say 10 wide by 4 high), you are going to want to tie the whole thing together with two long strings.

See the image below to see what in the heck I'm talking about.

Did you find this useful, fun, or entertaining?
Follow @madeineuphoria to see my latest projects.

Comments

[ericbosloor]

I think this idea is great especially when you need to resort to cutting costs after moving house. However, I personally find that the area is still messy as the clutters are just dumped in the individual jugs without any lids on to conceal in the mess. I would rather cut the opening halfway through the top so the remaining plastic piece that dangles from the top can be used as covers.

[CC51]

hot glue would just do the job perfectly

[Luna Lovegood1]

I hope my mom allows me to do It

[HelenaTroy]

I was thinking of doing something similar with large plastic milk bottles, but I doubt they'd be self-supporting when stacked (depends on the weight of the contents, of course) so I've been trying to work out a way to brace the tiers.

[BenL22]

good for emergency raft when flash floods hits.

[SereneY]

good idea

thank you share

[Yonatan24]

My grandpa has been using this storage strategy for like 30 years!

[MarkSindone]

This seems like a good idea for college kids to have some sort of organization in their dorm room, but for any other person, I think IKEA will probably have something that looks a bit better in terms of aesthetics!

[littlemissmaker123]

This is sooooooooooo cool!!!!!! I am so doing it. I am in a real need of somee good organising. I wonder if it would work with two litre milk bottles...?

[CameronRobertson]

Interesting storage idea! I would personally prefer cubbies with a little more space, but in a bid to be environmentally friendly...

[xhua]

Good idea!

[katelyn3565]

I wonder if this would work with plain old milk jugs?

[lobo_pal]

Too much water can kill you.

[Coodude26]

Yes, about 8 gallons in five minutes will kill you. Even if you drank one entire jug of water, nothing bad would happen, besides frequent visits to the bathroom. BTW, ANYTHING can kill you.

[lobo_pal]

I read up on it after the lady died, I think it's actually closer to 15-20 in an hour.

[Coodude26]

These guys are barely drinking one every 3 days, so there's no cause for worry...

[lobo_pal]

I'm just saying, don't to try to get all these containers in one day.

[Coodude26]

haha. Yea, I hope most people have THAT much sense.

[lobo_pal]

I don't know, did you hear about the death during the radio contest? She died after drinking 20 gal of water. Stupid people.

[bassclarinet23]

People are morons