Don’t Toss Empty Milk Jugs When Their Handles Can Turn Them Into Hanging Storage Bins
Empty milk jugs already have two features most DIY storage bins need: a deep container and a built-in handle. Cut away part of the plastic, and that handle can support the jug from a rod without adding hooks or mounting hardware to each bin.
Karen from Sew Many Ways used the idea under a worktable, where a conduit pipe holds a row of cut milk jugs. Each container can hold fabric scraps, craft supplies, markers, crayons, or other small items that tend to take over drawers and work surfaces.
Best part is how little needs to change. Keep the handle, remove part of the jug, slide it onto the rod, and the former milk container becomes an open bin that can move along the rail.
Mark the section you want to remove
Keep the jug’s handle connected from top to bottom. Draw a cut line from beside the neck, down the front, and across the side to create a large opening.
Removing this section turns the closed jug into a bin while leaving enough plastic around the handle to support its contents.
Cut along the marked line
Scissors can cut through the plastic, following the line around the front and upper section. The goal is a wide opening that makes it easy to reach inside.
Avoid cutting through the handle or the plastic connecting it to the base. That untouched section is what allows the container to hang from the rod.
Slide the handles onto a rod
Thread a rod through each jug handle and the containers hang without separate hooks. Here, conduit pipe forms the rail, supported beneath the worktable with brackets.
Conduit pipe comes from the electrical section of a hardware store and is sold in several precut lengths. The original setup used it because it creates a strong rod for hanging supplies.
Fill each jug with a different group of supplies
Open fronts turn the hanging jugs into grab-and-go bins. Crayons can fill one, markers another, pencils another, while a separate container can hold small craft pieces.
Labels make the same system useful for items sorted by type or size. In the original sewing-room setup, the bins held precut fabric squares, including 2½-inch pieces, while gallon jugs could accommodate 5-inch charm squares.
Because the containers hang instead of sitting on the work surface, the area below the counter remains open. The same setup can move beyond a craft table to a garage, workbench, sewing room, or kids’ art station.