Top 10 Uses For Used Coffee Grounds

By: Diy maven Jun 22, 2007

10. Deodorizer. Dry them out on a cookie sheet and then put them in a bowl in your refrigerator or freezer, or rub them on your hands to get rid of food prep smells.

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9. Plant food. Plants such as rosebushes, azaleas, rhododendrons, evergreen and camellias that prefer acidic soils will appreciate the leftovers from your morning cup. Also, grounds can add nutrients to your compost bin.

8. Insect repellant. Sprinkle old grounds around places you don’t want ants, or on the ant piles themselves. The little buggers will move on or stay away. Used grounds are also said to repel snails and slugs.

7. Dye. By steeping grounds in hot water, you can make brown dye for fabric, paper and even Easter eggs.

6. Furniture scratch cover-up. Steep grounds and apply a bit of the liquid to furniture scratches with a Q-tip.

5. Cleaning product. As they’re slightly abrasive, grounds can be used as a scouring agent for greasy and grimy stain-resistant objects.

4. Kitty repellent. To keep kitty from using the garden as her personal powder room, sprinkle grounds mixed with orange peels around your plants.

3. Boost your carrot harvest. Mixing fresh grounds with the tiny seeds makes them easier to sow and may repel root maggots and other wee beasties.

2. Dust inhibitor. Before you clean out the fireplace, toss wet coffee grounds over the ashes to keep the ash dust under control.

And, finally, the #1 use for used coffee grounds....drum roll here....

Cellulite reducer. I kid you not. We're supposed to mix 1/4 cup warm, used coffee grounds with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then, while standing over an old towel or newspaper, we're to apply the mixture to our "problem areas". Next, wrap the areas with shrink wrap and leave on for several minutes. Unwind the wrap, brush loose grounds off our skin and then shower with warm water. For best results, it is recommended to repeat this procedure twice a week. A little weird to be sure, but as high priced cellulite creams actually have coffee in them, it just might work.

For even more uses of spent coffee grounds, visit cocoajava.com, essortment.com, rd.com and finally, mrsomalleys.com, who, if #1 works, should not have one jot of cellulite on her thighs. And if you have any secret uses for your used grounds, please share!

(Coffee magnet pictured above available through AllPosters.com for $4.99)

Tagged : coffee, How-To, cleaning, alternative_uses

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Maureen
May 28, 2012

I like Peg's idea of spreading used coffee grounds, instead of environmentally horrible salt, to provide traction on icy pavement; however I doubt it's the acid in them that helps melt the ice. Most likely, it's their dark colour. Even through cloud, sunlight will heat each dark particle before it warms the snow, cement, or other pale surfaces around. So every warm particle melts the ice around it, and then melts its way down through ice until it warms the pavement itself; and as the grounds get trodden flat they catch even more rays and the process accelerates.

Here's another coffee tip. I've used multiple thin applications of coffee to stain a spot on a beige sisal rug back to normal after I scrubbed the color out it with carpet cleaner. It really worked. I used a little craft brush and the last sip of my morning coffee each day for a few days. now the spot is barely noticeable.

I use my old coffee grounds on my hair. I'm a brunette (blondes should not do this) and the grounds (I mix them into my conditioner and also put them on my hair plain) actually make your hair shine and be the color of coffee. The smell is wonderful too. I also add the grounds to my body wash and face cleanser for an exfoliant. Nothing makes you as smooth as coffee grounds.

cindi
Jan 30, 2012

i love coffee,great ideas for used coffee grinds,i will try most of them.thank you for the creative ideas.

I wanted to thank you for this great read of Coffee Grounds. I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it and I have bookmarked you to check out the new stuff you post. Thanks.

Amy
Nov 06, 2011

Used in the garbage disposal every morning in my house. Keeps the nasty musty odor away!

Megalabrat
Aug 24, 2011

We've used coffee grounds in our compost for many years. We also use old, leftover coffee as an insect repellant for our plants (especially our veggies that get eaten by insects). It seems that, if you spray the old coffee on the plant, it repells the insects (some say because of the caffeine in the coffee. . .makes the insects too "nervous" to stay on the plant). All I know is that it really works. You could certainly steep old grounds and use the liquid to spray your plants.

I always out used coffee grounds in my ashtrays, works a treat! they never smell, well, only a little of coffee, but thats way better than smoke. Great post!

Thanks for the article. I found another site that also talks heaps about coffee grounds and the things you can do and is specific for gardening. http://groundtoground.org

Intrepid.Woman
Dec 06, 2010

You had me until the one about cellulite. Nothing helps cellulite. Nothing.

Peg
Nov 12, 2010

Dried grounds make good grit to spread on icy sidewalks. It does no damage to the environment. The acid seems to help melt the ice.

Used coffee grounds a real winner on the garden bed or in the compost. I have used over 1.5 tonnes of it so far, taken from cafes and the office, and you can do the same.

Learn about how you can make a difference at my blog:

http://shanegenziuk.wordpress.com/2010/07/03/ground-to-ground/

Wow I'm gonna do most of these ideas, especially the cellulite one! Cellulite creams can be so expensive. Hopefully it works, *crosses fingers.*

P.M.-- That's good to know! All hydrangeas should be purple, if you ask me. ;)

My girlfriend says that if you put coffee grinds into the soil around a hydrangia, the flower will turn purple. will try it next summer and report back

Nathalie
Jul 24, 2009

What I like to do is to flush it in the kitchen sink from time to time, which removes bad smells and cleans the water pipes

You can use coffee grounds as a facial exfolliant. Watch this video on my blog for more info - http://lurnto.com/?p=374

I like inkbot's argument. ;) I'd like to know how the coffee dip works, so, yeah, please post your results. Love your profile pic, btw! The hints were complied from the websites listed at the end of the post.

inkbot,

Those warnings about things dogs should stay away from stem mostly from their ability to eat much more by body weight percentage than humans can. Wolves are supposed to be able to eat a week's worth in one sitting. Thus if there is something slightly toxic in their food and they are allowed to eat as much as they want they have a good chance of poisoning themselves. Same goes for cyanide in fruit pits; we'd get full before we ate enough pits to kill ourselves, but a dog can poison themselves just fine.

Back in college my dog got into my roommate's stash and ate 2 Pounds of chocolate in a sitting. She didn't feel so good but was otherwise fine. If she was a four pound chihuahua it might be a different story, but she was a 90lb Malamute. Dogs can of course have allergies, that's a different story.

Anyway we've got a flea problem and the poisons are scary and not very effective. I'll post my results.

i'm curious about the source of the coffee grounds flea dip for dogs. coffee grounds are highly toxic to dogs and are on every list for them to avoid along with chocolate, certain fruit pits, etc. i realize that you're not recommending that they ingest the grounds, but i certainly would not rub coffee grounds all over my dog merely on the basis of skin absorption. and i drink a lot of coffee! and would love to do something useful with the grounds! luckily, you have other tips, but i thought it was worth bringing up. maybe you could post your source to quell any doubts...

cheers,
inkbot

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