Do you have empty cans lying around? Whatever size of tin cans you have, make use of them with these 20 Super Smart Ways to Organize with Tin Cans!

Remember I talked about the Toilet Paper Wars in this post? Well, a close second in the hoarding territory was canned food, again mostly in Western countries. Canned food lasts longer and includes a wide variety of foods from fruits to vegetables to meat and fish. It’s perfectly logical to store canned food for emergencies.

Indians aren’t that big on canned foods, and the only canned foods I personally buy are canned tuna and condensed milk. However, there are many other foods that come in tin cans, like cookies, biscuits and some gourmet or specialty foods. Now what do you do when you use up all the food in those cans? Throw them away?

Don’t! Because tin cans are strong and durable and can be used in a variety of ways, especially to organize your stuff around the house. Of course, you need to ensure that you’ve gotten rid of sharp edges and cleaned and dried the cans thoroughly. Once this is done, you can use your cans to organize many things – and today we’re going to look at 20 genius ways to organize with tin cans – using every size of can you have!

20 Super Smart Ways to Organize with Tin Cans

1. Ribbon Organizer

Maybe you craft a lot and need ribbon constantly or you only take out your ribbon stash when wrapping a gift. Whatever the case may be, your ribbons need to be organized so they’re always crisp and not tangled up with each other. The How to Home shows us how to use a tin can to easily store your ribbon and access it at the same time, without worrying about tangles!

2. Hanging Hairbrush Storage

Are you being lazy about brushing your hair during the lockdown? Maybe reaching into that messy drawer and finding your hair brush is a chore in itself. Solve this problem and stay well groomed with this cool tin can hack from The Creative Imperative!

3. Wall Mounted Organizer

One cool thing about tin cans is that you can drill holes into it. And you know what that means – yes, you can mount them on walls! Grillo Designs shows us how you can do this in style, and you can use this in your bedroom, kitchen, home office or even in your entry way – perfect spot for a sanitizer pump bottle!

4. Stationery Organizer

If you’re a parent with a school going child, you know for sure how kids’ things seem to be all over the place these days. The best tip for this is to allocate a spot for your child to have his lessons every day and set it up so he doesn’t have to run around looking for things a the last minute. Check out The Crafted Sparrow‘s project to see how tin cans can help you achieve this.

5. Cutlery Organizer

I am in love with this cultery organizer from Madame Criativa! It looks so bright and chic and is an excellent low cost way to give your dining table a new look. You can do this project with even two or four tin cans – just make sure they’re all of the same size, and use a sturdy board to hold them together.

6. Hanging Kitchen Organizer

Tin cans aren’t just great for spoons and forks, they also work well for kitchen utensils. Store your peeler, kitchen scissors or knives in an easy to access place the way it’s done at HGTV. These are things that annoyingly get lost at the apt moment, and now you can increase your productivity in the kitchen with the help of the right organizer!

7. Drawer Organizer

If organizing drawers is a challenge for you, HGTV has an easy solution for you – with tin cans! The ideal tin cans for these are shallower ones like tuna cans; deeper ones will make it difficult to access the contents at the bottom of the can. This is a great idea for junk drawers, jewelry drawers and stationery drawers.

8. Magnetic Holder

This hack from A Pretty Cool Life is perfect for cans with flat sides, like olive oil cans. This way, the cans sit perfectly flat against a fridge or any other magnetic surface. We love this idea for magnetic white boards, where you can place markers or erasers, so they’re always on hand when you need them.

9. Picnic Supplies Holder

This idea from Sweet Paul Mag is so cute! It’s great for whenever we can go for picnics next, but it’s also a fun idea for a kiddie party to hold each guest’s cutlery, straw, napkin and even a water bottle, if your can is big enough. If you like, you can also decorate the can so it also doubles as a party favor pen stand!

10. Yarn Holder

How smart is this idea from Sew Many Ways? If all your yarn rolling around drives you nuts, take control of the mess by installing tin cans on the wall in this manner, so that not only is your floor free, you can easily take and put back your balls of yarn.

11. Rotating Caddy

Do you have a Lazy Susan that’s lying around unused? Well, if you’ve got a few tin cans, Cynthia Shaffer knows the best way to make use of it! This is a great idea for a craft table where you need to store a large number of supplies and need a different one each time. Just one turn of the caddy and you’ll have what you need!

12. Metal Tin Pincushion

Sweet Paul Mag has a craft project with tin cans that isn’t just a great way to organize your sewing things, but also makes a good gift for a sewing enthusiast! You don’t even need to decorate the can – the fabric strip around it works both as decoration as well as a needle holder – smart!

13. Cupcake Stand

Cupcake stands can be quite expensive, and sometimes it can be difficult to find the right size. But you don’t have to spend money on expensive things when you can make them for yourself, as Columbus Trading shows us very well! You can decorate it to match your party theme perfectly – so complete customization without the expense!

14. Tiered Stand

If you enjoyed that cupcake stand project above, you’ll like this one from Home Talk. This one uses cookie tins, which most of us are sure to have at home – storing sewing supplies! Now you can have different levels to sort your supplies, whether it’s baking, sewing or any other hobby.

15. Makeup Organizer

Are you worried your makeup is going stale because of not using them? No problem, Easy Peasy Creative has a solution – use tin cans of different sizes to store them. Dress them up so you have a storage solution that’s both pretty and productive!

16. DIY Herb Planter

If you’ve been wanting to grow herbs in your kitchen but don’t want to spend a load of money on planters, you don’t have to – not when you have tin cans! Fun Family Crafts shows us how to dress up a plain tin can in burlap and twine for a simple yet elegant planter that works well in farmhouse or boho chic styles.

17. Headband Organizer

If you have a little girl who doesn’t have a spot for her hairbands, use a large can to keep them organized. Since headbands are open on one end, it’s easy to take any one from the column, even if it’s at the bottom. Get more information about this project at The Organized Housewife.

18. Utensil Holder

Sometimes, things look good as they are, no need of dressing them up. HGTV gives an example by using these blueberry cans without changing anything about how the cans look. Just mount them on a board, fix the board on a wall in your kitchen near your stove, and you’re all set to speed up your cooking process.

19. Accessory Organizer

Kids’ clothing accessories are small, and they can get lost easily among other clothes. This DIY accessory organizer from HGTV makes it easy to keep gloves, socks, scarves and leggings neatly organized. And it’s so easy to make, with a bunch of similar sized cans and thick rope.

20. Organizer Cubbies

A vertical desk organizer is all very fine, but why not make it more fun by turning it into cubbies? Living Well Mom shows how this can be done, and this works even if you use cans of different sizes. This is a great way to use up all your patterned paper scraps, and looks great with smaller cans on top of the larger ones.

You can check out other posts in the Recycling Series here.

This post is a part of the Blogchatter Half Marathon.