Be Dippy: Reuse Your Pizza Dipping Sauce Containers for Small Storage

Again and again, I am reminded that necessity truly is the mother of invention.

I'm always on the hunt for bead storage solutions in my studio. I get a lot of my beads by disassembling old, forsaken necklaces: that means I end up with a lot of small piles of beads, and I don't usually have enough tiny bags or containers to separate them. And though the current disaster-area state of my studio would indicate otherwise, I do like to keep things organized.

A recent pizza night at my house offered a solution. I was cleaning up after chowing down on a large with pepperoni, bacon, mushrooms and green olives (mmmmm), and was washing out the half-finished containers of dipping sauce. (I am not a dipping sauce fan, but my husband, Dan, is.) These plastic containers can be recycled in my city, but as I washed them out, I thought, "Hmmm . . . they're small, they have lids, they're kind of transparent . . . perfect!" I washed them extra thoroughly to remove any residual aromas. I don't want garlic-scented beads, after all.

These wee containers are so perfect for storing small piles of beads. I can't believe I hadn't thought of it before. Besides the virtues I've already mentioned, they're also lightweight and stackable. They could be reused as small storage for all kinds of things around the house: buttons, tacks, nails and screws, game pieces, paper clips . . . you know, all those little odds and ends that dwell among the dust bunnies at the bottom of your junk drawer.

Reusing these dipping sauce containers combines two things I love, love, love: reducing waste and saving money!!

stackable small storage

The transparent lids of dipping sauce containers make it easy to find small odds and ends.

You would never believe that dipping sauce containers can store up to 90 8mm beads. But they can!