The art teacher at my school used the meat trays for giving out paint to students in small amounts and providing a spot to mix colors. The thin flat magnets that accumulate over time can also be used in an art class.
I taught Home Economics and used coolwhip type and other plastic containers in class instead of buying storage containers-recycling in use. We also made tin can ice cream with 1 lb and 3 lb coffee cans. the ingredients went inside the small can, inside the large can, filled the area between wtih ice and salt, and rolled the cans until we had ice cream. Kids loved it. Easy to repeat at home.

I agree. I get a lot of very good tips from this board.

I use the plastic salad containers to store pkgs of bias tape, zippers, velcro, webbing, cording, plastic snack bags with like colored buttons, glue pkgs., beads in snack pkgs., serger thread cones, patterns, fat quarters, sewing projects and scraps, etc. These containers stack on top of each other and also fit side by side in dresser drawers that have been repurposed from when the children were young.

I have a lot of acrylic templates, all shapes & sizes; I store them in labeled file folders in a small plastic file box.

Space is tight in my apt. I use an over the door hanger to hold a canvas 4 pocket letter sorter for my rulers. Each pocket has a different type and I always have them handy. I needed a small table for my apt and couldn't find anything little enough. I found a glass topped metal frame coffee table & had pvc pipe cut to length and stuck the legs in the pipe to bring the table up to the height I needed. I made a cloth cover and got a pretty table to eat at and it sits right by my sewing machine so it doubles for projects. When I need a light table - off comes the cover and I put a small light under the glass and trace away. All this from a $5 garage sale find!
Am totally enjoying reading this post.

Paper towel rolls when slit long ways will wrap around a plastic clothes hanger and keep from getting a fold line in slacks and quilt tops. I also use old sewing machine needles to hang pictures and empty pill bottles to hold dull or bent needles and pins. I prefer to use the mini M&M containers when I find them as they are easier to open. I tie a piece of ribbon, yarn or small strip of fabric to a pair of scissors when they get dull - then I know which ones to avoid and which ones to grab when there is a scissor sharpening event. The bags that curtains,come in are great for storing WIPs- love the ones with zippers. I repurpose shirt cardboard in my papercrafting. I use the tubes from diet drink mix for quilting safety pins and cat treats. I save the biggest plastic snack jars for yarn. I reuse all glass bottles. The pretty ones hold buttons, the bigger ones stay in the kitchen for leftover sauce or hot soup. This is a great thread!

Plastic coffee cans hold bird seed outside for ease in filling feeders...dry and safe from moochers. Plastic dogfood containers with colored lids let you color co-ordinate all sorts of items. Binders with sheet protectors will hold patterns you have done with scraps of the item so you will have a journal of all your work, and a piece to easily find if something needs a small repair. You can also take the sheet protector to the store to match other colors to the project.

One that I've done for years and haven't seen posted on this list...Empty Velveeta cheese boxes (the bottom box, made of heavy cardboard) make great drawer dividers in any room of the house. I never throw one away and they seem to eventually get used up.

I seen in a magazine where they took empty glass jars, that spaghetti sauce or jelly came in painted them white with spray paint then made designs on them with puff paint. You could use them for storage, or even vases. They were wonderful.

I use mine to hang my "flimsies" on (which is a finished top). I can stagger 3-4 at a time. I also use pants hangers for quilt tops also.

I plan on making a "skirt with pockets" to go around my coffee cans (like the garden tools skirt that goes around a bucket) to use on my various tables in the sewing room