In the spirit of our Spring Cleaning theme we offer up watchmaker's cases for your organizing pleasure.
You can't actually dispense with the mess until you've sorted through it and found homes for all the little doodads that you can't bring yourself to toss: loose screws, loose change, spare buttons, spices, seeds, paper clips, marbles, stamps... Yup, we can think of dozens of little odds and ends that need homes within our home, and these little round glass-topped aluminum containers (which are super cheap to begin with and even cheaper by the dozen) are a super solution.
I have actually done this project and there is one problem. If you wall-mount the board, the lids to the Lee Valley canisters can easily fall off. Perhaps there are ways to tighten the seal between the canister and lid Also, Lee Valley sells some really strong disc magnets that I would recommend.
I used Lee Valley too for a cheaper way to store spices - leigh's right, the lids fall off easily - and remember that these tins are not stainless steel either. But I bought these because I keep spices in a drawer (they don't like light or heat), and so I don't need to spend $50 on a magnetic board. you'll also need to think about how you'll label the tins. It is a cute, resourceful, and cheap alternative to the big expensive spice boards, but if you're thinking of displaying your spices in your kitchen, you should take the higher-quality route.