Are you aware that if you drink coffee daily your metabolism can be boosted from 3 up to 11%? It is also one of the top detox drinks for most Western citizens because of its ability to rid our bodies of free radicals.
Coffee is also known to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. That’s good news if you drink one cup of coffee per day.
But what should you do with all of your used coffee grounds? It’s a lot of waste.
Well, don’t fret over it too much because today I have numerous ways for how you can reuse coffee grounds while also getting the health benefits of your morning cup of coffee.
1. Grow Your Garden
Coffee grounds are great to add to your garden. They make a wonderful fertilizer that adds nitrogen to your plants and enriches your soil.
If you want to add an organic element to your soil that will help aerate, retain moisture, and attract earthworms then look no further than your morning coffee.
2. Tell Pests to Hit the Road
Pests are gardeners’ biggest enemy. If you are looking for a way to get rid of ants, slugs, or snails from your property, then leaving used coffee grounds around should do the trick.
It’s easy, natural, and cheap.
All you have to do is to spread used coffee grounds around areas where you want to repel ants and other pests. They hate the smell. Make sure to replace it every day.
3. Compost It
As I mentioned, if you are a gardener then you should learn to love your used coffee grounds. Even if you don’t want to apply them directly to your soil, you can at least add them to your compost bin.
Yes, earthworms love coffee and will turn it into a rich organic compost that will give your plants a great place to grow.
4. Feed the Worms
Worms love coffee grounds, it’s one of their favorite foods.
When it comes to your used coffee grounds, if you raise your own worms or just want to give the worms in your garden a friendly snack to keep them around, coffee grounds are great for that.
From the above video, you can learn how to feed worms with coffee grounds.
5. Stop the Odor
My biggest pet peeve around my house is our kitchen trash. If the trash is overflowing or if it stinks, apparently I am the only one that can see or smell it.
Well, to help with the odor issue, I’ve learned that you can sprinkle some used coffee grounds at the bottom of the can. It will help keep your trashcan odor-free.
6. Homemade Drain-O
Do you ever get clogged drains? It is a common household problem. Don’t worry about purchasing expensive products from your local store. Or even worse, having to pay for someone to come unclog your drains.
Oh no, instead just put your old coffee grounds to work. When you run them down your drain because they can be a little abrasive they will actually scrub your drain pipes for you.
7. Fix a Dent
Coffee grounds won’t actually fix a dent, but they will fix a scratch in dark wood. If you have a piece of furniture that is a darker wood and has a nasty scratch in it, there’s hope.
Rub used coffee grounds into the scratch. It should help hide that nasty scratch and help your furniture’s appearance.
8. Put Baking Soda out of a Job
You might recall when you could buy those cute little polar bears that were hugging, that were meant to hold your baking soda inside the fridge. The whole purpose was to allow the baking soda to sit discretely in your fridge and help kill the odors that often develop behind those doors.
I know baking soda isn’t very expensive but you can’t always make it to the store. And truthfully, if I don’t have to buy something I usually don’t. In this case, you can actually use old coffee grounds to replace baking soda when it comes to keeping odors down in the fridge.
9. Add That ‘Pow’ to Your Food
Another way you can reuse coffee grounds is by adding them to recipes. You might not have thought of it, but they are actually quite common in desserts or used as a rub for meats.
If you ever decide to try some of those recipes, know that used coffee grounds will work just as well as fresh coffee grounds. This recipe will get you started.
10. Make It Your Maid
Okay, well don’t get too excited. The coffee grounds won’t magically get up and start cleaning the house for you. Sorry! (I wish!)
But you can make a handy household cleaner with it that is not only frugal but also leaves a great scent behind too. All you have to do is place coffee grounds on a rag and scrub. The abrasiveness of the grounds will help give you a deeper clean.
11. Let Your Morning Coffee Scrub In
You can also reuse coffee grounds by using them as a scrub for your face and body. Yep, you guessed it. Not only can coffee grounds help your plants, help to keep your home cleaner, and also deodorize your home, but they can also be used as a nice body scrub.
All you have to do is mix the coffee grounds in a bit of warm water or body oil and start scrubbing that dead skin off. Just use caution if you have sensitive skin as to not irritate it.
12. Make It Your Beautician
Oh yes, as much as coffee can help your skin and face, it can also help your hair. You won’t be exfoliating it so much though.
Instead, when you are in the shower getting ready to wash your hair, rub a hand full of old coffee grounds into your hair first. Then shampoo your hair. It helps to break down any residue or build-up you might have in your hair.
13. Get Rid of the Onion Smell
I sometimes have this problem, especially when fixing pintos with chopped onions. Because no matter how much I wash my hands, the onion smell will still linger. Much to my dismay, most of the time I end up going to bed still smelling of onions.
However, had I just thought of the old trusty coffee grounds I wouldn’t have had to smell of onions all night long. All you have to do to get rid of that pesky onion smell is rub old coffee grounds on your hands. The coffee smell will defeat the onion smell. It is that simple.
14. Make It Your Homemade Foot Odor Eater
My sister will probably want to disown me for telling you this but for years she would not let her feet breathe. She slept in socks, wore shoes all the time, and her feet developed a strong odor. She had all kinds of store-bought products but finally learned that she simply had to let her feet breathe!
However, if you are in the same situation, don’t spend a fortune on odor-reducing products. Try slipping some old coffee grounds inside your shoes while you not wearing them. It should take care of the problem. But also, do give your poor feet a chance to breathe fresh air.
15. Change Your Clothes
Have you ever spilled coffee on some of your clothes? Especially white clothing? Have you paid much attention to the golden color it turns to?
Well, that is a great color if you do it on purpose. So the next time you need to dye your clothes that color, instead of buying dye, reuse coffee grounds by turning them into a dye.
16. Boost Your Root Harvest
Did you know that your root vegetables love caffeine? I know, who would’ve guessed? But they do! Especially carrots.
The next time you grow and harvest root vegetables keep that in mind. By simply sowing old coffee grounds into the ground around your vegetables, you will find that your harvest prospers because of the nutrients absorbed from the coffee grounds. Some actually suggest mixing coffee grounds in with your seeds before planting.
17. Put the Cat Off
I am a huge fan of cats. I actually have two indoors. But my husband doesn’t like the idea of stray cats around our property, especially in the garden.
So a great way to keep cats out of your garden without harming them is by putting your coffee grounds to work. You’ll need to mix orange peels and coffee grounds together.
Then toss them out all over your garden.
18. Make Something
Reuse coffee grounds by making lots of different items. They can be used for craft projects as realistic dirt.
But you can also use your old coffee grounds to make great smelling soaps and candles. If you love the smell of coffee then why not keep it around as frequently as possible.
19. This One is for the Ladies
Okay, ladies, let’s be real. It doesn’t matter your walk in life, at some point, most of us will end up with cellulite. It makes us self-conscious and distracts us from loving our bodies.
So how great is it, that I have a simple and inexpensive idea that could possibly fix your bout with cellulite? You take some old coffee grounds and mix them with warm water. Then rub them on the area impacted by cellulite for about 10 minutes, a few times a week.
20. Winter Safety
Cleaning out your fireplace and woodstove is important in order to be safe while burning wood during the winter. There are tons of different ways to clean out your fireplace but one you probably haven’t thought of includes using your old coffee grounds.
The idea is to throw your old coffee grounds directly into the fireplace on top of the ashes. This should weight the ashes down and make it much easier to clean out space.
You now have numerous options on how you can reuse old coffee grounds. Go on and try them. You won’t regret it.
