10 Ways to Reuse Tea Tins To Get More Organized In The New Year

I use a variety of tins around the house but one use I didn’t see mentioned here was for storing stocking stuffers and scented gifts in the off-season. Critters aren’t likely to eat through these containers so even candy can be kept in the basement. There’s a tin for each person, with a painter’s tape label. They’re stored upside-down when empty. As I pick treats up in the weeks and months leading up to whatever occasion, the treats go into whichever tin(s) they belong in. Scented soaps (or other scented non-food items that aren’t already in glass or metal) go into separate tins from the edibles – so that whatever else is being stored doesn’t end up smelling like the soap and so the scent doesn’t attract critters.

When my nieces and nephews were all around the ages where they wanted piggy banks, I took several of my tins, cut a coin hole in the lid, spray painted them, painted their name on it, decorated them to suit each kid and gave them as Christmas presents. They loved them.

I sort my Prismacolor pencils by color in these tins ( the pencil colours match the tin colour). All corralled in a nice serving tray.
I use these tins for storage with wee tags to show contents (craft items, like postit notes, fit perfectly.)
I bought empty big black ones to hold spanish moss for crafting.
They hold paint brushes – the fine art kind. Gosh, I could go on. I just love them so much!!

I love Harney tea, but I do worry about buying the 1 pound loose leaf refills. I’m the only tea drinker in the house. 4 or 8 once refill bags would be amazing (especially if you managed to find a compostable or recyclable material for the package) for me since I like to keep my favorites on hand and experiment!

I use my empty tins as planters. I love sharing my plants.

My daughter uses H&S tea tins to store her little LOL doll accessories or other little loose toys.

I’ve saved every Harney Tea tin I’ve purchased since starting on my tea journey with your company in 2019. A friend has offered to make me a tin robot, but I like some of these ideas. Recently, a kitten was out in the street on a cold night and she ran to me. She loves knocking things off my desk and sampling my teas. I think I need to start using some of those tins to hold the smaller items she’s playing with.

I love the tea tins and have used them for storing small items and my wrapped H&S tea bags. It’s not carried any more but I do have a few of the H&S Ceylon tea tins and they are my favorites! I also pass them on to a friend who uses them as planters to give to friends who are sick. And I enjoyed discovering new uses for the tea tins!

I use a tin to keep used bread & produce bags.
Then just grab a bag to use while cooking & baking for scraps, egg shells & trash.
I also wish that there were smaller refill bags of tea.

I love Harney tins. I use the smaller sizes of plain black tins for organizing sewing supplies. I use the larger size (buy on this site under wares) to hold expended Nespresso pods — much cuter than the container Nespresso sells, and am about to get more for protein powder. Love these tins…

I would love loose refills for the tins. I like to have a wide variety and the 1 lb bags are just too much. Hard to store too. The tins are great because they stack securely.

I use Mod Podge to cover my tins with fabric. Some I have used Christmas fabric on to contain gifts.

A small wide mouthed mason jar fits in the tins perfectly with the rim sitting on the edge so you can pull it out easily. I plant hydroponic plants in them and I can lift them quickly to fill and check water levels.

Good post, Fashion accessories for Pets, pet accessories online

I have several tinssaved back,was going to put them in the yard sale.now I may hold on to a few. They would be lively as decor,especially the Royal Palace tins. I should buy a 50 count bag of Hot Cinnamon Sunset to refill. That flavor is a sensory experience. I can dine off the aroma when I open the lid. TBE taste is wonderful,hot or cold. Beautiful teas and tins.

I too like the idea of packaging smaller quantities in smaller bags so it easier to refill a 4 oz tin. I find a 1 lb. bag can last me forever! I like having choices and find the small tins are just perfect to store but would like a better way to refill.

While looking for ideas on using them, I found the idea of using tin snips to cut them into small rectangle or teardrop shape & adding a earring thingy to make a pair of earrings out of the prettiest part of the tin. Other ideas so that you don’t have to throw these into a landfill: Donate to a thrift shop; offer them up on Craigslist or Freecycle (I got a bunch from CL a couple years ago :) Use for spices if you have enough tins.. Fill with gourmet or homemade candy and give as gifts. Fill with Epson salts/scented and give as gifts. Use to store colored pens and colored art pencils in. Use in your office to store staples, tape, paperclips, postage stamps & other supplies that otherwise would be scattered on desktop or in a mess in the drawer. If you have little -or big – girls with long hair, use the tins to store and separate what I call “hair doodies” (barettes, rubberband things, clips, etc.Fill them with nutritious snacks for your desk or vehicle. Fill them with something that you could randomly give away to bless another person. For me, that might be candy and a Gospel tract or a Burts Bees lipgloss or something like that. I guess if you were really OC you could separate your children’s Legos’ Maybe that’s going a bit too far :)

Yesterday I found a box of your tea tins at a thrift shop in Blanco, TX, and I must have something wrong with me because I bought them without knowing exactly how I was going to put them to use. I must have an obsession or something… :)

Have you considered starting a service so that we could send back the tins so they could be reused? I just don’t have enough room for them all at home, and at my office we have so many that we have built a pyramid out of them! I try to re-purpose them as much as possible, but I’m at the point where I just have to throw them away, and I hate that :(

I am so glad I’m not the only one! They’re just too good to throw away! I do refill my Scottish Morn tea container, but I have lots more to put to use! Great ideas! Thank you!

I filled an empty tin with tissues for a cute tissue box! If anyone’s ambitious enough, I’m sure you could cut a rectangle from the lid to make it more functional, but the napkins themselves don’t stick much and only require a gentle tug

I love your tins and have so many. I do order the one pound bags of loose tea and refill them but I wish you would offer bulk tea in 4 and 8 oz quantities. That way we could refill tins, try new teas that we might not want in one pound quantity. PLEASE consider! Thank you!

I have so many tins! They are too pretty to throw away. As a teacher, I have reused them to store art and classroom supplies, as vases for Mother’s Day gifts, and yes, even for making candles! At home, we store makeup and makeup brushes, storing screws, nails, drill bits and even extra batteries. And they also make attractive displays on a bookshelf. Of course, they are used to stash refill sachets whenever we need to order more awesome Harney & Sons Tea!

My mom was the coffee drinker of our family but I learned to drink tea from my dad. My Mom & Dad traveled when i was younger and collected tea pots and loved the loose tea my dad always brewed. It was so special loved it ! They went to different countries to get tea and the pots. That’s why I love your tea.

I made christmas ornaments by wrapping them up like presents. They looked great on the mantle and other spots here and there not so obvious.

These tins are the perfect size for small floral arrangements. I have used Cinnamon Spice for Thanksgiving and Holiday Tea for Christmas.

I buy my tea by the pound and when my three or four tins of Scottish Morn are empty I refill them with the loose tea and I ‘m good for a couple of more months.

These tins are excellent for storing pipe tobacco!

I use my tins to store business cards, and also assorted sewing supplies—snaps, elastic by sizes, needles and more. The tins are too good to throw away. Loved the idea of covering with craft paper and using in the kitchen.

I find small glass vases or jelly jars to sit inside and use as fresh flower vases/centerpieces. Great little hostess gift filled with fresh flowers from your yard!

I can see a great craft year in 2019! I save many sizes of tins with great plans for them. Then life intervenes…I will get my game on with the great suggestions! When I was growing up, my mother had many beautiful Japanese works of art in our home. It wasn’t until I grew up and really took a look at the pair of table lamps with brass bases that were on mahogany tables in our living room. The center was two tea tins stacked one on top of the other. The tins were identical, and the entire tin, including the lid, was embossed with many colors and gold accents. I hadn’t thought about my “adult” discovery in years. Guess who’s giving “tea tin lamps” for gifts this year!

I use Harney tea tins to organize my pantry cabinet, as I have a lot of spices and small cooking supplies. I have also saved two large bags of regular tea tins and making a dining table out of them. The empty octagon tea tins I sell to people on eBay to use as storage containers.

I wish you sold more tea in 4oz or 8oz bags so we could reuse the tins to hold … tea!

I’ve been sewing all my life, so now I keep buttons in my tea tins, labeled as to material (wood, mother-of-pearl, etc.); I also keep the little paper envelopes that come with extra buttons for new clothing items. I keep little stacks of seam bindings and other notions on hand in tins. The tins I can’t use (those these tips will reduce that amount!) I give to thrift shops so others can do the same.

I reuse my tins for more tea, and I also put my smaller painting supplies in them. I buy from independent artists, and they have a lot of little items that can easily be lost or damaged. The tins are perfect to hold the tiny paint pans.

Love these ideas! I use my old tins in the garage for storing small random items like nuts & bolts, screws, nails, etc.

We have a women’s tea at our church each spring and we have used my tins to make floral centerpieces for each table, and then one lucky person gets to take it home. I must admit I am sad to see the tins go, but it just means I have to collect more for the next time!

I saw this idea in an old magazine: for a Christmas tea table, cluster 3-4different Christmas tea tins filled with flowers for the centerpiece!

I use my tinsel to store jewelry, particularly bracelets. I find them very handy for packing my jewelry when heading out of town.

I am a teacher. My classroom is filled with Harney and Sons Tea tins. They hold crayons, markers and glue sticks throughout our room. I love them because they don’t tip over!

I have used Harney & Sons tea tins as planters for houseplants. See photo and directions here: https://my-tea-diary.blogspot.com/2017/04/tea-craft-tuesday-tea-tin-planters.html

The tin is great for taking quarters, laundry pods and dryer sheets to the laundrymat.

Teachers sometimes can find uses for the tins.
A tin in a child’s desk or backpack could secure loose or pointy items. Crushable snacks would ride securely.
Extra dog treats or extra shopping bags/poo bags could be color coded by flavor or task. Quick retrieval of the required items with insider information.

What great ideas! I do like to refill my tea tins – which means you need to make Tower of London available for me to do this! But these are excellent ideas I haven’t yet tried, aside from the pencil holder.

I like to store my Double-A & Triple AAA Batteries in my tins. I know exactly where they are during Hurricane Season! I have many battery operated candles, inside of Lanterns; much safer than real candles in the heat of summer! Thank you for showing great ideas!
Carolintallahassee

I’m using my old tins by turning them into toys for my grandchildren. I put different magnets inside the tin and paint different backgrounds to put the magnets on. They end up with four different scenes to imagine a story with the magnetic characters. I found the little magnets at the thrift store.

As a tea addict & Harney tea lover, cute tins included, this is probably exactly what I’ll do! But I didn’t think up all these ideas myself, so thanks for the creative options.

Loved your ideas for using empty tea tins. They are so pretty I hate to toss them.

I love the peach ginger tea – a real special treat!