Unused CDs might take up room being stored on spindles in your closet, but they can be used in a variety of ways.
The release of Billy Joel's "52nd Street" on CD marked the first time an album had been released for commercial sale on the laser-read CD format. Throughout the 1980s sales of CDs grew and by the 1990s the cassette tape was all but obsolete. The CD was being used for video games, demo discs, Internet installation software and, of course, music. The dawn of the 21st century saw CD sales declining at a staggering rate due to digital downloads and people were left with many of these CDs cluttering their homes with seemingly no purpose.
Clock
Take the hands off of a plastic-bodied wall clock and glue an old CD to the dial so that the hands will cover the CD when they are re-applied. You can use the shiny side of the CD to create a futuristic look for your wall clock or you can use the label side of the CD in homage to one of your favorite albums.
Coaster
You can make a fully functional coaster out of an old CD. Many people just use the CD itself as a coaster, but this allows condensation to leak through the CD's hole and possibly ruin the finish of your furniture. Decide if you want the shiny side or the label side of the disc to be exposed and flue a piece of cork board onto the other side. Use a craft knife to make the cork-board fit nicely around the round edges of the CD.
Wall Decorations
You can use CDs as a form of wallpaper by using two-sided tape to attach them to your wall. CDs can be used to cover your entire wall or you can use them to create an outline of an object like a person. You can use a pencil to draw a basic outline of a human on your wall and fill it in with CDs to create a person from the future that is always on your wall. A fish can be made out of CDs by gluing them together in an overlapping fashion so that they look like scales. Shape some aluminum foil into triangular forms and glue these to the body to create fins and a head.
Dumbbell
You can use your old CDs to make workout equipment with a few easily obtained pieces of hardware. Buy a threaded rod and bolts that match the thread pattern. Screw two of the bolts onto the rod so they secure the CDs from moving toward the handle of the dumbbell. Apply an even number of CDs to each side and use the other two bolts as end caps for the CDs. Cover the center portion in baseball grip tape for comfort and enjoy as you curl 100 CDs at a time.
