While the sale of tablet computers has slipped dramatically over the past few years, that doesn’t mean that there is no use for tablets anymore. If you have an old tablet or two lying around the house not being used (cell phones too!), there are many ways to repurpose old tablets for specific uses. With just an unused device and a cool app, you can simplify some of your everyday tasks.

In fact, you may find some of these repurposing ideas so intriguing that you may want to buy a used or inexpensive tablet and try them anyway.

Note: before using the tablet for any of these purposes, completely clear your device. Erasing all the data is especially important if many different people will be using it.

1. Alarm Clock

Take your tablet and install an alarm clock app such as Timely Alarm Clock or Alarm Clock Xtreme. These apps allow you to keep many alarms to schedule different alarms for different days of the week. Keep the device by your bedside or attached to the wall on the other side of the room if you are prone to turning an alarm off and going back to sleep!

2. Baby Monitor

Instead of buying a new system to monitor your baby, use an old tablet and your smartphone to keep an eye and ear out for the little one. Download an app such as Dormi, and use the old device in the baby’s room as the camera.

This same idea works as a simple security system for your home as well. Check out the Alfred Home Security Camera app as a choice for this type of system.

3. Digital Cookbook

No matter how you store recipes now, using a tablet as a digital cookbook can help you keep them all in one place. Use an app like Evernote, Google Keep, or OneNote to save web pages, take pictures, and scan or take a picture of recipes you have written down on cards, saved from magazines, or that are in cookbooks. You can organize them and quickly search for them. Hang the device on the wall or under the counter to avoid getting food on it while cooking.

4. Family Command Center

If your family is always on the go, and the busyness makes it easy to miss appointments or forget to pick up cereal at the store, you can use an old tablet to create a command center. Put apps on it such as Google Calendar, a notes app like FiiNote, a reminder app like BZ Reminders, and a shopping list similar to Our Groceries.

With those apps your family will be able to add important events so everyone knows what’s coming up, set reminders like taking the trash to the curb, write notes to each other, or add items you need to a shopping list. Keep the device on the wall in a central location, and everyone in the house will see it and use it.

5. Movie Player

Install an app like VLC Media Player and preload videos onto the device. Attach the tablet to the back of the car seat to keep little ones entertained on long trips.

6. Remote Control

7. Secondary Monitor

If you need to use a secondary monitor while working on your PC, and you don’t have another monitor, you can use an old tablet instead. Use an app like Space Desk, and you’ll be able to mirror and extend your desktop onto the tablet.

8. Social Media Feeds

Are you addicted to Twitter or need it for your job? You can use an app like TweetCaster to keep your Twitter stream current and accessible without flipping back and forth between work you may be doing on your laptop and your Twitter.

There are tons of other ways to reuse those old tablets. Be creative and put them to good use.

If you can’t think of a way to use the devices for yourself, donate them to younger children to use with educational apps or to charities who use them in a variety of ways. These ideas will help everyone by keeping the technology out of the landfills.

Tracey Rosenberger spent 26 years teaching elementary students, using technology to enhance learning. Now she’s excited to share helpful technology with teachers and everyone else who sees tech as intimidating.

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