HOW TO STORE LEFTOVER PAINT & WHY

how to store leftover paint in mason or recycled jars

Even with three months at home, I found excuses to not organize the gallon size cans of leftover paint in the garage. But I found time to watch 97 episodes of the Gran Hotel with English subtitles.

But after six months with my husband happily working from home I found a reason to spend a few hours in my garage sorting through the leftover paint.

In the garage, staring back at me I had over a dozen gallon size paint cans and just as many quart size cans.

If my right elbow twinged when I picked up the paint I stored it back on the garage shelf. That meant there was more paint than a jar could hold.

If there was no “give” in the paint can the paint had dried up from a lazy paint lid?

But if there was less than 1/4 of a can of paint I gave it a proper mason jar and screwtop lid.

Here is how I store that last 1/8 of a Hale Navy or Kendall Charcoal paint can. You guys some of these (Made in the USA)  mason jars have stored paint for more years than the paint color was on the walls.

My daughter’s bedroom was pink for a very hot minute.

Can we agree that everything looks better in a mason jar?

Most of my nearly empty cans or plastic containers looked like this when I pulled them out of the garage shelf.

See below for a quick review of how I store leftover paint.

HOW TO STORE  LEFTOVER PAINT

Round up mason jars or recycled glass jars with lids.

Tip: Use the wide mouth and/or shorter mason jars for touchup paint tasks. 

1. Mason or recycled jars work best for that 1″ of paint at the bottom of the can.
2. Label the color and finish. I include the paint # too because Home Depot color matches the top brands.
3. I used these labels and it includes a chalk pen.
4. Store the jars in a cool or temp stable spot. I store my mason jars in this closet.

Tip: I keep a few foam brushes in the closet so I can grab a jar of paint and make a quick touchup. 

But a funny thing happened when I transferred the paint into mason jars.

It had nothing to do with paint. It was like when the Grinch realized Christmas wasn’t about packages and bows. Well, neither was the task of how to store leftover paint.

Nope, the best reason was organizing the leftover paint motivated me to clean and tackle those nagging home maintenance tips like the taunting you paint touchups.

Once I sorted through the paint I ended up with empty shelves. Empty!

And, then once I had the leftover paint in mason jars with cute labels it motivated me to tackle those nagging paint touchups. With the leftover paint in jars I no longer postponed touchups because of the thought of sorting thru paint cans and hauling up paint cans for a dozen touchups.

It was liberating!

Mason jars make everything prettier and more manageable. I now keep touch-up paint in mason jars in this closet.

And, for those wondering if that paint “keeps” in a mason jar. The short answer is yes.

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