Pasta sauces, pickles, jams, and olives are just a few of the grocery items that come in glass jars. My local market has a bulk food section where you can scoop out only what you need into a plastic produce bag. I use the extra jars to store these bulk food items. Large jars can be used as drinking glasses. Smaller jars can be used to organize the junk drawer in the kitchen or small items in the bathroom. A drawer I recently organized with 3 glass jars separates ponytail elastics, medium sized hair clips, and bobby pins. When everything was mixed together I was always digging around for bobby pins with great frustration. Now, I am able to go directly to them.

My husband loves candles and some of them come in pretty nice jars with lids such as the Yankee Candles. When the candle has been used place it in a pan of water over medium heat to melt the remaining wax and dump it in the trash. After cleaning the jar use it to store other items. I suppose you could collect the wax and re-melt it to make your own candles if you wanted to. Another option is to restock your candle jar with a pillar candle. Since they don't come with a container they are usually cheaper.

Some candles come with nice lids made of wood or metal but they may not seal as well as you'd like them to. In those instances we use them for coasters. The baby can throw them and give them to the dog and we can put our nice coasters away for awhile.