I have a banana tree which recently outgrew its small 2 gallon pot, so I repotted it into a 5 gallon bucket! Make sure to drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage. Here I am using an old drain board to catch the extra water – works perfectly!
Here’s someone who has made a 5 gallon bucket planter much prettier by wrapping with burlap material. I am not as concerned with aesthetics, but I have to admit it looks much more appealing than my version!
A bucket with a hole drilled through its lid works perfectly as a primary fermenter in brewing. You may choose to add a spigot to the side, which will allow you to tap the liquid off without fussing with siphons or having to lift a pail full of heavy liquid.
There is a commercially available version called the “Ale Pail” (which is technically a 6.5 gallon bucket) which comes pre-manufactured with a spigot, air vent and measurements up the side.
I’ve also seen mash tuns made with 5 gallon buckets, and have been told that they will hold heat well, but I am suspicious. I prefer to use 10 gallon coolers to do my mashing in, since they are already insulated against heat loss (although they are more expensive)
If you have come here interested in home brewing, but are a beginner to the craft, I highly recommend listening to the Basic Brewing podcast. You might also enjoy our one minute wine recipe, where we explain how to easily produce your own wine.
If you are comfortable with destroying the liquid retaining qualities of one of your buckets, you could use one to sift compost. Here is a series of pictures from one of the screeners I made. I used a 1/2″ drill bit to make these holes, but you could choose to go thicker or thinner, depending on what you are screening out.
To sift, just shake the bucket up and down or side-to-side using the handle. I find sifting dry soil or compost is easier than sifting wet, chunky blobs – but this is true no matter what type of soil sifter you are using.
The best part of this design is that you can sift directly into another 5 gallon bucket, with no mess!
Update June 2012: A month after posting this, I found a fancier version that needs hardware cloth, but is probably a little bit quicker to make, and might sift better as well. Why not make both and see for yourself!
See the full article at skylighter.com.
It’s very easy to make a five gallon washing machine, you just need the following ingredients:
Make sure you use a brand-new, clean plunger for this project. Here’s a link to a cheap one on Amazon.
Building this unit is very simple, just take note of these 2 special design features that will make your washer work more effectively.
Tight entry hole Cut the hole in the bucket lid to fit the plunger handle snugly, to ensure water doesn’t find its way up and into your face.
Plunger holes
Drill about a dozen 1/4″ on the sides and top of the plunger to allow the water a place to flow through.
If you skip this step, your plunger will buckle and won’t pump up and down smoothly.
You can simplify this design drastically, just fill one or two buckets with soapy water and your laundry, and agitate your clothes thoroughly. See our article on hand washing in a 5 gallon bucket. 
It looks like I’m not the first person to start publishing five gallon bucket uses! This guy beat me to the topic by about 12 years, which is half my lifetime so far.
I only buy about two books a year, and this was one of them this year. Used copies can be had very cheaply over on Amazon.
I only paid about 5 bucks for the book, and honestly that’s about what it’s worth. Many of the ideas are jokes, although about 40% of them are interesting. I would give this book 3 1/2 stars out of 5.