Many years ago I started throwing my coffee grounds out in the yard, filters and all. I don’t know if it worked with someone like me with a brown thumb, but I was cheap and didn’t want to buy plant food. My yard is strewn with coffee and the filters.
The best thing you can do for your pocketbook and the environment is not drink coffee at all. Since that is probably not going to happen, the 2nd best thing you can do is reuse the coffee and filter. Just leave it in and put in less coffee the next day. Will save you money and have less trash. The 3rd best thing you can do is reuse the grounds and the filters.
I Just Gotta Tell Ya
- More than 50% of Americans Drink Coffee or 150 Million Americans drink coffee
- Coffee drinkers the average consumption in the United States is 3.1 cups of coffee per day.
- That’s alot of Coffee Grounds going into landfills.
Top 26 Ways to Re-Use Coffee Grounds
- Get Rid of Celluite DIY Maven. “Mix 1/4 cup warm, used coffee grounds and one tablespoon of olive oil. While standing over an old towel or newspaper, apply the mixture to your problem areas. Next, wrap the areas with shrink wrap and leave on for several minutes. Unwind the wrap, brush loose grounds off your skin and then shower with warm water. For best results, it is recommended to repeat this procedure twice a week.”
- Soften and add shine to hair. When washing your hair, rub coffee grounds through wet hair and rinse. For brown hair, coffee grounds add highlights.
- Use coffee grounds as an exfoliant for skin. Pat on skin, massage over skin, rinse.
- Add coffee grounds to your skin mask beauty routine.
- Make homemade tattoos (temporary) with henna and coffee grounds.
- Fertilize plants. Old coffee grounds are nutrient-rich for plants that thrive in an acidic soil.
- Add used coffee grounds to the pots of indoor plants.
- Work used coffee grounds into your garden soil before seed planting. After your plants start to emerge, work in coffee grounds near the plants. Used coffee grounds are said to repel snails and slugs as well as adding nutrients to the soil.
- Increase your carrot and radish harvest by mixing seeds with dry coffee grounds before planting the seeds.
- Use coffee grounds to repel ants.
- Keep cats from using your garden as a kitty box by spreading used coffee grounds and orange peels throughout flower beds.
- Deodorize a freezer. Place a bowl with used coffee grounds in the freezer to remove unwanted odors. Add a few drops of vanilla to coffee grounds.
- Rub coffee grounds on hands to get rid of smells from chopping or cutting up pungent foods.
- Make a used coffee grounds sachet. Fill old nylons or cheescloth with dry used coffee grounds. Hang in closets to absorb odors.
- When you need an abrasive cleaner, coffee grounds can be used. Be careful of any surfaces that might stain.
- Remove furniture scratches with wet coffee grounds.
- Got a fireplace? Sprinkle wet coffee grounds over the ashes to keep from becoming engulfed in the plume of dust ashes create when you need to remove them.
- Dye fabric, paper or Easter eggs. Simply add used coffee grounds to warm water and let sit a bit to create a dye.
- After you give your dog a bath, rub coffee grounds through the coat of your pet. Coffee grounds are said to repel fleas.
- Keep bait worms alive by mixing coffee grounds into the soil before you add worms.
- Grow mushrooms on old coffee grounds. irst you need a glass jar or bucket. Then you will need to obtain inoculated mushroom plugs, available for purchase from many places including companies such as Fungi Perfecti, LLC. After enjoying a cup or three of coffee, place the wet grounds in your jar or bucket, and then push one of the mushroom plugs into the grounds. Every time you drink coffee, place the grounds in your bucket and add another plug. Be sure to keep the grounds wet. Within a few days you should begin to see mushroom growth. Keep adding new grounds and plugs until you run out of space in your container. You may experience a bit of mold growth on the coffee grounds; simply remove the mold so that it doesn’t affect the mushrooms
- Keep the kitchen drains smelling fresh — Do you ever walk through your kitchen and smell a foul odor, only to discover that it is emanating from your drain? You can use coffee grounds about once a week to remedy this problem. The first step is heating some water to a boil in either a teapot or a pan. Once the water is hot, bring it over to the sink. Pour about a half cup of used coffee grounds down the drain,immediately followed by the hot water. You should follow the coffee grounds with at least 5 cups of boiling hot water. The hot water will push the grounds through, ensuring that they will not clog the drain. Your drain should smell fresh for at least a week afterward.
- Cleaner — We all face hard-to-clean objects in our lives. Whether yours is a pan that just won’t come clean or an ashtray full of stains, coffee grounds as a cleaner may be your solution. The grounds are extremely abrasive and acidic, giving them the edge when it comes to difficult cleaning. Simply mix them with a little bit of water, and then scrub with a firm brush. Do make sure that the dirty items are stain-resistant. Otherwise you must make the cleaning a quick process because, as mentioned above, coffee grounds may dye surfaces.
- Cooking — For cooking, don’t reach for those used coffee grounds. Instead, opt for your leftover coffee or fresh grounds. Rather than throwing away the leftover coffee in the bottom of the pot, use it as a meat tenderizer; soak your steak in it to make the meat more tender and add a great new flavor at the same time! You can also add fresh grounds to chocolate cakes and brownies for a richer and unique flavor. Technically you could add used grounds, but fresh grounds give the desserts a stronger, fresher taste!
- Start a worm farm? Mix horse manure and coffee grounds for your ‘soil’, just like the professionals.
- Make A Fun Stone with your kids- Recipe from About
Resources
- How to do Things
- Rainforest Coffee-
- Cocoa Java-
- Wacky Uses of Maxwell House Coffee
- E-importz– Coffee Statistics
- Coffee Research.org