Uses for Used Coffee Grounds….Green & Cheap

Yesterday we posted an article on how to make a skin scrub using used coffee grounds and brown sugar, which made me wonder what other uses used grounds might have. If you drink coffee, why not use those grounds for something else instead of tossing them? In the past, I’ve seen coffee shops that had buckets of used grounds they were giving away for free to use in your yard, but I didn’t know why…

Well, now I know why and here’s a few more great ideas….

• Touch up scratches on furniture and other wood surfaces by rubbing wet coffee grounds into them with a Q-tip.

• Keep slugs, snails and ants away. Spread used coffee grounds on anthills or anyplace ants might be entering your house. Toss a handful in your yard or garden to keeps slugs and snails away from your plants.

• Fertilize plants and vegetables. Used coffee grounds add minerals, vitamins, and nitrogen to the soil. This will help produce bigger melons, tomatoes and carrots…..it makes the vegetables stockier and less prone to insect infestation. You can mix the grounds with soil for outdoor or indoor plants or steep 2 cups used coffee grounds to a 5 gallon bucket of water for a couple of hours or overnight. You can use this as a liquid fertilizer for garden and container plants. Increase your carrot and radish harvest by mixing seeds with dry coffee grounds before planting the seeds.

•  Make homemade play dough. Here’s a couple of recipes for play dough….I made this first one but totally forgot to add salt and it was just a big bowl of coffee ground mush. I will say though, I used it on my cuticles and hands before tossing it and my cuticles looked great. The coffee grounds give this play dough a different texture, fun for curious little hands. If you try any of these recipes, we’d love to hear how it worked and if your children enjoyed playing with it.

Play-Dough Recipe #1

Mix 2 cups used coffee grounds with 1 1/2 cup cornmeal and 1/2 cup salt. Add water and flour as needed for working consistency.

Play-Dough Recipe #2

Mix 1 cup used coffee grounds with 1/2 cup cold water, 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup salt. Add extra flour if too sticky.

Play-Dough Recipe #3

Mix 1 cup flour with 1/2 cup salt, 1 cup used coffee grounds and 1/2 cup cool coffee.

• Get rid of refrigerator or freezer odors by putting dry used coffee grounds in a bowl and sticking in the fridge/freezer. Adding a few drops of vanilla to the coffee grounds makes them smell even better. You can also put dry used coffee grounds in the foot of an old nylon, tying it, and hanging it in your closet or dresser drawers to help combat musty odors. *A simple way to dry used coffee grounds is to simply spread them on a cookie sheet and letting them dry overnight.

• Dye white clothing, paper or Easter eggs. Steep used coffee grounds in hot water for 10 minutes or until the water turns to a medium-brown color. Remove the grounds with a mesh strainer. Soak in the water and you’ll have a lovely light brown finish. You can also freshen up brown clothing by adding a pot of freshly brewed coffee and grounds to a load of wash…it will make your faded browns look new. *This doesn’t last forever so you would need to repeat as needed.

• Use as an organic flea dip. When giving your dog a bath, rub in coffee grounds with the shampoo and rinse well. Fleas hate coffee! Make sure your dog doesn’t get the coffee in its mouth because it can make your pet sick.

• Scrub away grease and grime from pots and pans. I tried this and it worked great! Got my pans clean without a ton of scrubbing and it didn’t add any chemicals to my pans or scratch them.

• Toss used coffee grounds on ashes before cleaning out your fireplace to reduce dust from spreading.

• Rub on your hands to eliminate odors like onions or garlic.

• Mix 1/4 cup grounds with 1 egg white for a “mud” pack. Massage onto face, let dry and rinse off. It tightens and tones. Or use as an exfoliant scrub.

• Keep cats from using your garden as a kitty box by spreading used coffee grounds and orange peels throughout your flower beds.

• Soften and add shine to hair. When washing hair, rub coffee grounds through wet hair and rinse. Brunettes can get a darker, more vibrant shine by steeping used coffee grounds in 2 cups hot water for 15 minutes and rinsing their hair with the mix. Now I tried this but I didn’t “fix” my hair because I had to hurry so my husband could get the pictures…kind of hard to take a picture of the back of my head. So forgive the “do”, but can you tell a difference in the color?

• Extend a tan. Add a cup of water to old coffee grounds and boil. When cool to the touch, rub it all over your body or put in a sprayer bottle. Get in the shower and soak yourself down. Add the coffee mix and let sit for about 20 minutes and then rinse in cool water. I was in the shower, using the coffee grounds on my hair and decided to rub some of the grounds on one arm just to see if I could tell a difference. I didn’t let it sit for 20 minutes, this was literally after about 5 seconds…..I am totally trying this on my legs for a quick and cheap bit of color on my legs.

• Make cellulite appear less noticeable. Mix an egg white with the used coffee grounds warmed up in the microwave (warm not hot). Spread on cellulite. Wrap tightly in Saran Wrap and run a rolling-pin over the area a few times. Let sit for half an hour and rinse. I would love to hear from anyone who tries this!!!