Peanut Butter Jars
My father was a packrat extraordinaire, so I learned from the best. He had dozens and dozens of peanut butter an mayonnaise jars on shelves he built for them that line the garage wall. The shelves are very sturdy, and not a one has sagged in 25 years. The jars were used as containers for everything from screws to nuts. The clear glass made it easy to find what you are after, but if you get in too much of a hurry you'd be sweeping up glass shards from every corner of the garage. It was priceless the first few times my new brother in law would ask if I had a certain something for some project he was working on. The answer was always, "Yes, take a look in mom's garage. I know dad kept a jar of those somewhere."
As I struck out on my own, and having the memories of sweeping up the inevitable glass on the floor, I thought I would be smart and bought a few of those neat little plastic drawer sets for all the little odds and ends that get collected.
Then an amazing thing happened... they started making peanut butter jars out of plastic. My neat little drawers are now an afterthought - one still has the plastic wrapping on it. I now collect all my peanut butter jars. I have recently also found a use for mayonnaise jars in one of my hobbies, so I'm collecting those too.
Peanut butter jars blow the drawers away in usefullness, they don't shatter on contact with the garage floor, and they are much much lighter than glass. They also have the added advantage of being portable. Drawers of screws and nails get dumped if you have to take them somewhere for project.
Cleaning them is easy. Fill halfway with hot water and little dish soap. Shake and let stand. Every time you walk by for a couple days, give the jar a shake, then wash normally with the other dishes. To get the label off, soak it in the rinse water after the other dishes have been washed.