How to Repurpose Old Wooden Spoons Instead of Throwing Them Away!

For the last few weeks, I have been purging my home of everything that is too old, unneeded, broken, or just plane not useful. It has not been a small undertaking…clutter seems to lurk in every nook and cranny these days. The hardest part of decluttering your home is to figure out what you need and what you don’t.

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If you haven’t used something in three years, it is pretty obvious that you don’t need it, right? But what about things you use every day that are showing their wear and really need to be replaced. Do you keep the old ones ‘just in case’? Donate them to charity? Recycle them? Throw them in the trash heap?

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Learning to repurpose items around your house is a great way to go green! I decided to invest in some new cookie sheets and turned one of the old ones into a DIY Upcycled Cookie Sheet Memo Board rather than just donate it to Good Will.

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One other thing in my kitchen that really needs replacing is my set of wooden spoons. They are about 15 years old and have pretty much turned black with age! Old wooden spoons can be placed with any organic waste to be composted or tossed in the fire pit but other than that, what can you do with old wooden spoons?. I decided to figure out a few things I could do with them once I buy myself some new ones.

Old wooden spoons are discolored because they have spent years absorbing the oils from the food you cook. Take a piece of sand paper to your wooden spoon and try sanding off the top layer of wood. Then, treat your old wooden spoons with a little bit of homemade wood butter. In the image above, I sanded and oiled the spoon on the left. It definitely shows improvement compared to the one on the right. This one might last a few more years!

Just add a touch of outdoor paint and use these to mark your garden plants. Use a paint marker to write down the particular plant you are marking so you don’t forget what you planted where!

Repurpose old wooden spoons as a garden helper! Use the handle to create holes for seeds to be planted in. Use a permanent market to mark off 1 inch increments on the handle so you know how deep you are planting your seeds.

Wooden spoons make wonderful noise makers along with an old oatmeal container or a tin can filled with beans. You can also have your daughter turn your old wooden spoons into a fairy want with some pink paint, glitter and ribbon!

Using only a plastic 2 liter bottle, a couple wooden spoons, and a craft knife, you can turn your old wooden spoons into a cute upcycled bird feeder. Check out this birdfeeder on Pinterest for directions!

Repurpose old wooden spoons and keep pets out of your cabinets. If you have a pet that can easily open a cabinet door, just thread an old wood spoon through the handles to keep it closed.

Who needs those free paint stirrers from the hardware store when you have an old wooden spoon in your kitchen drawer!

Either you can make wooden spoon puppets and give them to the kids to play with or have the kids get creative and decorate them however they want.

Want to paint your wooden spoons but still use them for cooking? Here are the steps to seal painted wooden spoons:

1. Determine Paint Line. Apply painter’s tape to each wooden spoon
2. Start paining wooden spoons using a foam paintbrush.
3. Apply a gloss once the paint has dried. Use carnuba wax to give handles a nice shine.
4. Remove Tape
5. You’re Finished

You can also paint wood spoons to be purely decorative, like the artistic creation above. It makes a nice focal point in your home!

Do you have any other creative ways to repurpose old wooden spoons?

(NOTE: Post updated and content added since previous publish date)

Diane is a professional blogger and nationally certified pharmacy technician at Good Pill Pharmacy. She earned her BS in Microbiology at the University of New Hampshire and has worked in cancer research, academics, and biotechnology. Concern over the growing incidence of human disease and the birth of her children led her to begin living a more natural life. She quickly realized that the information she was learning along the way could be beneficial to many others and started blogging and freelance writing to share this knowledge with others. Learn more about her HERE.