By: Courtney Craig

Ah, the weekend! It’s a great time to relax, and to not think about the chores you should be doing, such as cleaning out your basement and attic, and — finally — getting organized.

You’re not a slacker — you’ve got energy. What you need are a few creative sparks that’ll make you roll up your sleeves and get going in the right direction.

Recently, I’ve come across some smart ideas for repurposing old stuff — fun and frugal ways that’ll help you declutter and keep your junk from ending up in a landfill. Here are some of my favorites:

Turn CDs into garden scarecrows

Chances are your music collection has gone all-digital in the past few years, leaving hundreds of old CDs sitting sadly in their jewel cases, with nothing to do except take up space.

Put them to good use by scaring birds away from your berry garden. Thread string through the hole in the CD and tie it off to make a large loop. Hang several CDs from a tree near your berry bushes. The shiny, moving objects will frighten birds, keeping them away from your sun-ripened berries.

Make a coat rack out of doorknobs

Do you have a collection of old doorknobs lying around? Put them to work again by turning them into a coat rack. Take four or five doorknobs — use a mismatched array for extra whimsy — and space them evenly apart on a piece of wood trim. Screw the knobs to the wood, then mount the wood to the wall. Voila — you have a new place to hang your coat or purse.

Use old pots for garden tool storage

Basements and garages are graveyards for old pots that became too small for grownup plants, kind of like the shells that hermit crabs vacate for a bigger home. Put these pots to good use by filling them with sand mixed with enough mineral oil to make it slightly damp. Stick your gardening tools in the sand for easy storage. The mixture protects tools from corrosion and rust.

Store tall tools in old golf bag

Perhaps it’s been years since you’ve teed off, or maybe you’ve just upgraded to a better bag, but here’s a new use for an old golf bag: Make it a home for your bigger gardening tools. Shovels, hoes, and rakes slide right into the compartments that once held clubs.
Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/blog/recycling-reusing/give-your-old-cds-new-purpose-plus-3-more-tips-repurpose-old-items/#ixzz2HOzN80f9

Visit Houselogic.com for more articles like this. Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.