If you are anything like me, you love your Apple products. Over the years, I have owned many of them, but quite a few have been resigned to the back of a drawer.

The reasons vary, sometimes I have just wanted to upgrade to the latest version, but sadly, quite of a few of my old Apple gadgets are in the drawer because they are broken. Often they ended up there because there was nowhere in my locale to get them repaired.

Last week, I was idly surfing the web, when I came across Fixapplenow.com. This firm will repair any Apple product almost regardless of the age of the gadget or the issues it has. Best of all they will do it via the post, so even though I live in the back of beyond I can still use their service.

When I found the site, I worked my way through my broken Apple gadgets and thought about how I would re-use them. For those I thought I could use again I got quotes and pleasantly surprised by how cheap the repair cost was.

Giveaways

Some of the items I get repaired I will be giving to a local outreach charity. They need laptops, phones and other PC equipment, so I know those gadgets will be well used. My plan is to double check how useful they will be to them and get them repaired only if they actually want them.

My nephew will be getting my iPhone 3GS, which is a great first phone for an 11 year old. It just needs a new screen, and charging port.

The rest of the equipment I plan to get more creative with.

A great looking clock and alarm

My other iPhone just needs a new battery, but it is ancient, so is only really good as a phone to use in an absolute emergency. If I ever need to I will of course use it that way, but the plan is for it to spend most of its time in use as a clock for my office. The idea is to download the Standard Time app and set it up permanently on my first generation iPhone. This fun app features a group of construction workers making up the time using wooden timbers. They are doing it against an urban background and the clock times were recorded in live time, so the background reflects the time of day. The quirky and fun clock app makes a great alternative clock.

A music repository for my car

My old iPod touch is going to be turned into a music repository for the car. The plan is to synchronize it regularly with iTunes, but leave it in the car. That way I will not end up leaving my phone in the car by mistake because I have forgotten to unplug it from the car stereo.

This just scratches the surface of what you can do with your old Apple devices. My friends are using them as baby monitors, home surveillance systems, remote controls, app test beds and in a range of other ways. So, if you have old iPhones, iPads or iPods why not dig them out, get them repaired, and put them to use.