Eight Inexpensive Things Repurposed for Something Awesome

You may have seen the above picture all over the place lately.  It’s one of those obvious ways to organize cables that we somehow didn’t think of ourselves.  Those binder clips cost $3.29 per two dozen at Staples.  Here are seven more inexpensive things used in a cool new way:

Have an iPhone 4 with a weak signal? Don’t want to spend $29 on an iPhone bumper? Oliver Nelson at the iphoneguru [via Lifehacker] noticed the bumpers looked quite a bit like his rubber bracelet.  It’s a bit tighter than a regular bumper, but it worked as a temporary fix.  He even cut a slit in the bracelet (about 1 1/8″ long and 1/8″ wide on the bracelet while unstretched) so it can stay on while the phone’s charging.  The bracelet he used cost 99 cents.  I had a free one thrown at my head from a parade float earlier this month, whether I wanted it or not.  These bracelets are everywhere; we may as well put them to use for something other than strangling seagulls at landfills. Not that I have a problem with that (a seagull killed my father).

Adam Belanger [via thedw] sawed through a real hatchet head (at an angle, no less), then drilled a hole in it to mount it for use as a badass keyhook. Don’t have the power tools to make one of these?  Would you settle for a ninja star coat hook for $13 from ThinkGeek?  No?  Well, excuse me, your majesty.  How about this keyhook then:

Keep your keys in an upright and locked position.  If you don’t want to make your own with supplies from an auto store, you can get the pre-made version (pictured above, via Reddit) for $27 shipped from England by Thabto.

Julian Horsey’s Pencil iPad Stand is made out of six pencils and four rubber bands. Would I recommend using this if you’re going to be touching the screen? Nope. Probably not sturdy enough.  But if you just need to prop up the iPad to watch a show or read a document while you type, here’s one ingenious way to get it done on the fly. [via MAKE]

I’ve often seen those clear plastic over-the-door shoe organizers and thought, “Could I ever amass enough shoes to justify buying this? No.”  I spoke to soon, because some genius (picture source unknown) figured out how to make the best office-door pantry ever.  These organizers cost $12 at Amazon.

A group of hobbyists at WikiHow put together instructions and a video for making invisible shelves out of a book you don’t mind hacking up.  Now I can confuse guests without having to put on the gorilla suit first.  (I’m still going to.)

Instructables member maugc posted instructions for making a wall-mounted charging dock out of an empty shampoo bottle and 3M picture hanging strips.  How much does this cost?  Heck if I know.  Bloggers don’t bathe.