i buy a lot of bulk foods. pretty much anything i can buy in the bulk section was ending up in piles of bags in my cabinets and turning into a mess and i forget that i have something because it's at the bottom of the pile. it was just messy and i had been looking for a solution that i could be happy with for awhile...then it finally occurrd to me that the solution was in my life all along! mason jars! why have i not realized how much i truly love mason jars before this?! i've always had them for canning and i constantly see then at thrift stores for a few cents, but i suppose i never took the time to see the potential in a mason jar!
this weekend, i sorted all my bags and filled various sized jars i've been collecting (just fyi, a lot of jars at the thrift store do not come with lids or they are rusty, but that is not a problem because you can buy a pack of 10 at most grocery stores for less than $4) and i got some sticker paper and made up some fancy lables for each one (i used this darling template) and BAM! lovely organized cabinets that make it so much easier to keep stock of what i have and what i need and created super easy access!

other wonderful things to do with mason jars (many of which i hope to encorporate into my life soon!):
+ can things! (obviously!)
+ make sun tea
+ flower vase (this is particularly lovely with the colored glass ones)
+ easy mood lighting when combined with a few christmas lights
+ festive and adaptable candle holders
+ easy recycled cups (great to take on the go and some how the perfect picnic additon)
+ wonderful photo displays
+ gifts in a jar
+ sewing kits
+ infusing vodka

basically the moral of the story is that mason jars are amazing and you can always afford to have a stockpile of them to use for any occasion!