How to Reuse a Liquid Laundry Detergent Dispenser Bottle for Paint

Once you've used up all the detergent, the bottle design for a liquid laundry soap bottle makes them surprisingly useful to reuse for paint and varnish storage. Paint will keep much longer in a sealed plastic container than an old paint can that's probably no longer airtight.

Empty laundry soap dispenser bottle
Newspaper
Leftover paint or varnish
Funnel
Permanent marker

Instructions

- 1
  Thoroughly rinse out the dispenser bottle until it no longer suds up with the addition of water.
- 2
  Set the bottle out to dry, with the vent cap removed.
- 3
  Place sheets of overlapping newspaper on the floor where you plan on transferring the paint so as to protect the surface from any spills.
- 4
  Using a funnel, pour any extra paint or varnish from partially used cans into the bottle through the vent hole.
- 5
  Securely twist the vent cap back on to the bottle so it's again airtight.
- 6
  Using a permanent marker, label the dispenser bottle with the date and paint type; put a small dab of the paint on the container so you can see what color it is.

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