No matter how hard you try, little hardware pieces always seem to end up in a junk drawer or open box where you prick your hand anytime you have to sift through it just to find the right size washer or nut.

Here’s a storage idea that re-purposes those plastic jars you tend to collect in the trash while also putting to work that useless space under your last shelf. Screw the lids under a shelf, load up your jars with whatever small bits you need storing and twist the jar onto its lid. The jars will hang from their own caps, screwed into the bottom of your shelf or cabinet. This not only keeps those smaller items within reach, it frees up more shelf space for larger things.

Plastic peanut butter jars work better than glass mason jars because they hold a lot more hardware and won’t shatter if you drop one. Use two screws per lid, positioned along the diameter roughly an inch apart (wider for larger lids). If you only use one, the lid will rotate and loosen every time you screw a jar back to its lid.

Photo: Chez Larsson