Repurpose An Old Plastic Bucket For A Clever Tool Caddy DIY

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Five-gallon buckets: Is there anything they cannot do? This classic staple of nearly every garage may get more use than some of your favorite tools. With a lid, this bucket is an excellent storage container for bird seed, pet food, or for rock salt in the winter. Without a lid, it's handy when deadheading flowers and trimming back plants so you don't have to lug around a huge yard-waste bag, or you can employ one or several as part of a clever way to grow tomatoes in gravel. Repurpose that bucket in yet another way, and becomes a great caddy for hauling tools around your yard or garden, especially when it's outfitted with a tool organizer designed to fit it. 

Some wrap-around organizers, such as the Ironland bucket tool organizer, are specifically designed to fit on a 3½- to 5-gallon bucket. It has numerous pockets that pair well with smaller tools such as a garden spade, weeding tool, or screwdrivers. The Ironland organizer has a whopping 51 pockets, which could hold a full set of crescent wrenches, a plethora of assorted paintbrushes, or just about anything you want to store in it, with room to spare. The Melotough bucket caddy organizer has fewer pockets, but comes in attractive, garden-themed prints, and is specifically designed to carry trowels, shears, and other gardening tools.

Of course, if you're handy with a sewing machine, you could DIY a bucket caddy (there are a lot of YouTube tutorials), customizing it as needed. You could also cut up an old gardening apron with pockets (or two), so that you have strips of canvas with storage pockets. Affix to the bucket with hot glue or Gorilla Glue.

When whipping up your bucket-based tool organizer, look for a cloth or canvas organizer designed specifically for a 5-gallon bucket. The aforementioned Ironland organizer is designed for 3.5-gallon through 5-gallon buckets. These organizers look a bit like two tool belts connected together, and outfitted with as many pockets as possible. There's a gap between the front and back sides to fit the device around the handle where it meets the bucket. Some include a cloth bucket liner.

Hold the organizer over the bucket so the gaps line up with the sides of the handle, then lower it, pressing any cloth linder down into the bucket. Organize your tools by grouping them near one another based on their purpose. When possible, keep scissors, shears, trowels, and similar tools with the handles up and sharp edges in the protective pockets. Some versions, like the Melotough caddy, feature velcro straps that can hold longer tools or plant stakes in place. When not in use, store the buckets on shelves in the shed, rinse and dry the caddy, and fold it up for compact storage. 

If you have extra 5-gallon buckets and don't need them all for tools, use them for container gardening. They're great for fruit trees that grow in containers, such as Meyer lemon trees. If you have a bunch of buckets, growing a container garden is easier with a DIY grow table using 5-gallon buckets.