Guest post by Andreanne Hamel from The Coffee Couple.
Don’t throw out those coffee grounds. Turn them into something useful and safe for the environment with these household tips!
Who doesn’t love the smell of fresh coffee brewing first thing in the morning? But once you’ve finished your cup, the grounds that went into making it probably get thrown away or rinsed down the sink.
Just like a plastic water bottle can be used over and over, coffee grounds can also have a second, earth-friendly life. Here are 10 ways you can soften your skin, protect your garden, and make your house a greener, better place to live with the help of coffee grounds.
Retouch furniture scuffs
Coffee’s dark hues match perfectly to brown or black furniture that’s been nicked or scuffed. Simply let used coffee grounds re-brew and then steep for a few hours or overnight. Strain it and you’ll be left with a chemical-free stain that you can apply with a cotton swab.
Deodorize your closet or refrigerator
Pack a small amount of dry coffee grounds into a sock and hang it from your curtain rod or leave wet grounds to dry in the refrigerator in a small dish. It will naturally deodorize either space and save money on air fresheners. Add a small dab of vanilla to give it a sweet scent.
Scour pots and pans
Use the grounds to scrub out greasy pans or stuck-on food. The grounds rinse away and you’re left with sparkling dishware.
Kick start a compost pile
Coffee grounds are the bread and butter of composting. With nutrients like nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur, they’ll add a boost to any compost pile.
Scrub away the stink
Keep a small amount of used grounds near your sink and use them to scrub away food smells like onion or garlic that stay on hands after cooking. The coffee will neutralize the odors on your skin much like perfume stores offer fresh coffee beans to help recharge your sense of smell.
Keep Spot from scratching
Create an organic flea dip for your pet by rubbing the grounds into his or her coat during their next bath. Rinse them away once you’re finished and you’ll have a happy, itch-free friend.
Keep your skin soft
Allow coffee grounds to cool after they’ve brewed, then mix with an egg white and use it as an exfoliating mud mask. Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor and it’s been shown to tighten and firm skin’s appearance. Skin care companies even use it in pricey creams to help fight cellulite. You can do it at home for free!
Make ants beat a retreat
Sprinkle a ring of coffee grounds around the base of your favorite plants to help fight off ants and other pests like plant-munching worms.
Keep your fireplace sparkling
Sprinkle wet grounds onto your fireplace’s ashes next time you clean. They’ll keep you from being overtaken by a plume of dusty ash as your scoop them up.
Pep up your plants
The nutrients in coffee grounds will act as a natural fertilizer. Just apply cold brewed coffee or used grounds to acid-loving plants like azaleas and watch them bloom.
Article courtesy of The Coffee Couple – Did this article put you in the mood for a great espresso? Click on the links to learn about Bialetti espresso makers, Gaggia Baby coffee machine, and Vev Vigano coffee makers.
Do you have any tips or ideas for reusing coffee grounds?
I’m sure that washing your dog or cat isn’t going to do anything harmful to them, and it might even kill a flea or two. But If your pet has fleas, your house IS infested. There’s no way around it. For health’s sake – your pet’s and your own – (those bugs carry nasty diseases!) – talk to your vet.
I have sprayed plastic, wood, and metal to match finishes I already had. There is a slogan out there that goes, If it doesn’t move, paint it! Of course you can paint the hardware! Make sure you buy a can of spray that goes on metal, mask off the other parts of the door, and spray. Even if it only lasts a year, cheap! Just respray.
Hey, for all u Primitive Crafty Ones…
4 Tbsp.used coffee grounds, dried
1 cup sea salt
2 cups flour
3-4 Tbsp.cinnamon & 2-3 Tbsp. ground cloves
1 cup of water or brewed coffee-may have to play with this amount-whether its to runny or to thick.
Spray molds with cooking spray, coat molds with cinnamon and/or cloves. Press the dough into the molds, making even & smooth on top. Bake @ 180 degrees for approx. 6-7 hrs. Keep checking on them to make sure they are not sticking. Pop from molds, and spray again slightly, rub some more cinnamon on if you wish. Turn off oven and let them sit about 1 hr. in a cooling oven.
These are called “Pantry Cakes”. Display in a pretty glass jar tied with a strip of homespun fabric. FOR DISPLAY ONLY>>>DO NOT EAT!!!!
What exactly are these molds you’re speaking of?
Sounds like I could use a cupcake tray to create a Pantry Cake.
It would have been nice if you had put that name at the top and explained what in the heck you were creating a recipe for.
These ideas are great but I have also heard that coffee grounds going down the drain are not good for pipes. So maybe be careful how much you are rinsing these down the sink. It would not be frugal if it caused plumbing problems!
I started saving my used coffee grounds…brought them into the shower to use as a new body scrub, which I heard was another useful use for old grounds…and AFTER I got out of the shower, I see little worms crawling throughout the remainder coffee grounds. It was gross…so be careful!!!
Just wondering, how long had you saved these grounds before using them? I have some I saved from my husband making his coffee yesterday I was thinking on using for a facial scrub.
Thank you! I use the ground in our compost bin but had no idea about the other uses. Where’s that cat?!?! It’s time for her bath :0
In Costa Rica I have learned to reuse the grounds to wash the pots and plates that smell like eggs. I had no idea though of the other uses.
New House. New Garden. Had planned a veggie garden and compost heap. The coffee grounds re-cycling tips are great and quell some of my qualms about planting Roses and Azaleas at the coast, but the water stain on my diningroom table was what got me onto your website. That’s the first tip I’ll try out. Thank you for sharing.
I love making home made clay for my kids and when I read your blog today I learned some new uses for the coffe grounds and wanted to post a recipe for playdough you can make for your kids, I received this recipe years ago from our sons preschool teacher
Coffee Grounds Play Dough
Here is a good recycling use for the used coffee grounds and your kids will have a blast. There is no milk proteins or solids in this recipe so it is great for kids with milk allergies.
Ingredients:
2 cups used, dry coffee grounds
1/2 cup salt
1-1/2 cups of cornmeal
warm water
Directions:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2. Add enough warm water to moisten ingredients.
This dough has a very unique texture. Its great for rolling, patting, and pounding … which is great for little ones.
Since you are using USED coffee grounds, there shouldn’t be any problem with staining. The cornmeal should absorb any remaining coffee coloring. Because you control the moisture content you can make this as dry or as damp as you would like.
What a neat idea! I feel so foolish. I’ve been throwing them out.
Wow…had no idea you could use it to touch up furniture! Thanks for the frugal tips!
I am actually listening to my coffee maker do it’s morning duty (and making the house smell great) as I’m reading this great post. I love all the various ideas. Just wanted to say that our Starbucks will bag their used coffee grounds and leave them out for customers to take home to their plants. If your Starbucks doesn’t already do this, I bet you could ask them to make it available. Also, does anyone know of a list of plants that like coffee grounds, and those that don’t? I know you shouldn’t use them in all plants.
I have used them on my plants, but you gave lots of great new ideas to try. I also just wanted to comment on reusing plastic bottles. It has been in the news over here in Japan that reusing plastic drink bottles is not good, because as they get scratched, slightly bent, or cracked those yucky chemicals are released into the liquid inside the bottle (sorry, I forget the chemical name in English!). They were advising not reusing plastic bottles for drinking. Have you heard anything like that in the US?
Yes, I have read over and over to never re-use your plastic drinking bottles for that very reason. As they get used, the chemicals will leach into your drink.
i put mine in my vermiculture bin!
Wow, I never knew. Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
How clever! Thanks for sharing.
Great ideas! I usually just feed the grounds to my worms but I see there are so many other things that can be done with them!
)
I’ve read you can use them as a natural clothing dye as well. I plan on trying it soon but we aren’t coffee drinkers so I need to head to starbucks or the such to get some.
Wow! I never knew there were so many ways to use leftover coffee grounds! We are a huge coffee family so I can’t wait to try some of these tips. Thanks so much!
Forgot to say great post! Looking forward to reading the next one!
Thanks for posting this! I’ve been saving my coffee grounds because I know they’re supposed to be useful, but after I got a big container’s worth, I wasn’t sure what to do with them and had it on my ‘to-do’ list to Google it and find out. But when I checked your blog today, here it was! Thanks.
Wow! I never knew there were so many ways to use leftover coffee grounds! We are a huge coffee family so I can’t wait to try some of these tips. Thanks so much!
I read that brunettes can wash their hair in coffee grounds to cover gray. I haven’t tried it yet, but I probably will soon as the gray hairs are popping up more frequently!
You can also dry them and then the kids can glue them down to make textured art. Like a teddy bear outline filled in with them.
May I ask, did you drink caffeine during your pregnancy? Like you, I LOVE the smell of freshly brewing coffee, but after learning recently that we are pregnant (thank God!) I’ve stopped.
I have never been a coffee drinker myself just because I never really developed a taste for it. My husband drinks coffee though. I think coffee in moderation during your pregnancy is totally fine, but it is one area that you will get mixed opinions. Congrats!
I was a coffee drinker before being pregnant, but God is good and the smell totally repulses me now! I will do the occasional Chai tea, but I have noticed lately that when I drink something that is caffeinated, like Chai, our baby MOVES a lot about 20 min after! I asked my midwife and she said it’s the caffeine. Ever since I learned that it really clearly effects baby, I’ve cut way back – less than one drink a week.
Blessings on your and your little one!
I saw this title and thought – NO, you’ve gotta be kidding! But I can’t wait to try these ideas out! Thank you so much for posting them!
Wow! Inever new. I’ve only used them for the compost. Thanks a bunch!
Great tips! I always need another excuse to drink some coffee!
I’ve only ever composted them with the rest of my food scraps. I’ll have to think about some of these other ideas too.
Ours goes straight into the compost…thanks for sharing!
You can also re-use coffee grounds (cooled, of course) as a body scrub. I just published a recipe for it in a client’s e-newsletter for April.
Great post! I added coffee grounds to my Bay Laurel – which had done NOTHING for a full year and within a few weeks, I had a ton of new growth. Very exciting.
Wow! I had no idea you could do any of those things with coffee grounds! I’m going to touch up our “coffee table” right now!
Shucks, I just threw mine out from last night LOL! What a great article, thank you.
In the summer months, I sprinkle the grounds around the bases of my rosebushes. It must do something, because last year they were incredibly prolific!
Lindsay,
I read once that you can dry them in the oven and use them in a pin cushion for needles, etc It said that the grounds help keep them sharp!
I had no idea there were so many ways to use up coffee. Thanks for the great suggestions.