Looking for a use for those empty pill bottles you just can’t bear to throw away? Well, we’ve got a prescription (ha!) for you.

If you’re like us, you keep empty pill bottles around because you know there must be a good use for these small, lightweight, secure and durable bottles. Since Ann has quite a few prescriptions to treat her chronic illness, we often find ourselves with a whole bag of them. So, we put our minds to work, and now those empty pill bottles are an indispensable part of our packing list when we travel.

Here are five useful ways you can use empty pill bottles when you travel:

1. Keep coins organized in empty pill bottles

You know that feeling when you’re trying to park in a city and you realize you don’t have any coins for the meter? You can say goodbye to the gut-wrenching sensation of being coinless at your perfect parking spot when you keep a small bottle of quarters, nickels and dimes in your glove compartment. You’ll feel like a pro when you aren’t searching for change for the meter–just open the bottle, take out two or three coins, and off you go. The best part? It’s easily refilled when you get change in the drive-thru.

PIN FOR LATER

2. Cuticle oil keeper

Travel can be tough on nails, so Ann never leaves home without a bottle of cuticle oil. These bottles are often made of glass, though, and we are afraid they might break. Even if they don’t break, we still fear leaks. So now she drops these products into a pill bottle. Not only does a pill bottle help contain any potential leak, it also helps prevent them by protecting the cuticle oil bottle from other items in her bag. Plus, it’s a great way to hold the bottle while applying the oil in a car or to protect furniture from a small oil ring when applying at home or in a hotel.

3. Pack along laundry detergent

We always bring powdered laundry detergent with us when we’ll be gone more than a couple of days. You never know when you’ll want to wash something out in a hotel sink or even do a load of laundry at the hotel or a laundromat. We’ve taken detergent in plastic bags before, only to have those bags tear or open unexpectedly in our suitcases. Ugh! But we have found that a pill bottle provides secure, dry storage. We will often bring two or three pill bottles, each containing a scoop of detergent. It is also a much more economical way to take detergent than buying travel size packages.

4. Travel sized spray bottles

We have a love-hate relationship with those $0.99 travel-sized spray bottles. We love the convenience of taking along just the right amount of liquids we can’t live without but hate the fact that those same bottles are prone to leaks that will ruin your day. But when you put them in a pill bottle, you have all kinds of insurance against in-make-up bag spills. Now they ride securely, nothing pressing against their fragile sides or accidentally triggering their spray nozzles.

For protecting your dry shampoo or hair spray, you might need a larger bottle. Ann takes potassium which comes in some of the largest bottles we’ve ever seen. But an empty fish oil supplement bottle or multi-vitamin bottle would also work just fine. (Note: The toiletry bag is Ann’s fav from Cinda B.)

5. Keep your jewelry in empty pill bottles

When we are on a cruise or staying in a hotel and we want to go to the pool, we take off our rings and other jewelry and put them in the safe in the room. The problem with in-room safes is that they are often low to the ground and dark inside. If you put your rings in them, it’s easy to miss them and accidentally leave something behind. But a pill bottle is much easier to see. Not only is all your jewelry together, it’s also hard to miss.

As you can see, pill bottles have quickly become an essential item on our packing list. The more we use them, the more uses we find. Do you have any uses for pill bottles when you travel? Let us know in the comments below.