Think of the trillions of cups of coffee people consume every day and the mountains of coffee grounds that are thrown out as a result. Did you ever think while you were dumping those grounds into the trash that there must be another use for them? Turns out there are a bunch of ways to use coffee grounds in our daily lives, who knew? And if you don’t drink coffee yourself, you can always hit up a local coffee shop and ask them to save their used coffee grounds for you. Here are a bunch of uses for coffee grounds that will totally change the way you think about coffee and will make you want to use up every last drop of coffee grounds you have.
Hair Exfoliation
A coffee mask is a great exfoliate all around especially as a coffee hair mask. If you have a lot of buildup in your hair and scalp and want to avoid harsh chemicals, use a ¼ to a ½ cup of coffee grounds. Rub the coffee grounds through our hair and then wash your hair normally to rinse all of the coffee grounds out. This process should be done once a month to have light and shiny hair once again.
Skin Exfoliate
It also works on skin. Just use the coffee grounds to work away dead skin cells leaving your skin soft and smooth. You can make a great coffee face mask and coffee ground scrub. There are lots of coffee face mask benefits including reducing under eyes puffiness and smoothing and brightening your skin.
Cellulite Reduction
The caffeine in the coffee grounds has a tightening effect that reduces the appearance of cellulite. Use a mixture of coffee grounds, sea salt, and coconut oil. Using the mixture, rub your skin with firm pressure focusing on your problem areas usually found in the belly, backside and especially your legs.
Coffee Soap to Banish Chest Acne
Next time you travel, grab a few of the mini hotel bar soaps. Or, if you don’t have those, a few bars of glycerin soap will work as well. Melt the soap down and mix with the coffee grounds to create a fabulous exfoliating and deodorizing bar of soap.
Coffee Candles
Do you love filling your house with the smell of coffee? You can do it by making your own candle. Just melt wax, mix in coffee grounds and pour into a paper cup. Make sure to add the wick, let the wax cool and, viola; you have made your very own coffee scented candle.
Aerate’s Soil
Coffee grounds are great for your garden because they aerate the soil. Scatter them across your garden and then till them into the soil. The coffee grounds will not only aerate the soil but give a great boost of nitrogen to your plants.
Make Your Flowers Bloom
The color of certain flowers depends on the pH level in the soil like hydrangeas. If you want your hydrangeas to bloom bright blue, add coffee grounds to the soil and it will change the pH level to ensure that you get blue flowers.
Keeps Away Slugs or Snails
Have a slug or snail problem? Slugs and snails hate coffee grounds and will avoid them. Create a barrier with coffee grounds anywhere you have a slug or snail issue and they will definitely stay away.
Worm Attractor
Unlike slugs and snails, worms love coffee grounds. If you want to attract them into your soil, till in some coffee grounds and you can attract the worms while keeping your slugs or snails away.
Coffee and Carrots
Carrots love coffee grounds when they are first planted. Just mix the carrot seeds with coffee grounds and they will receive a boost of energy immediately. Carrots will grow bigger and better and the coffee grounds will also keep away any pesky insects.
Grow Your Own Mushrooms
If you like mushrooms, they are also good for growing them. Just get a bucket of coffee grounds, plant some mushroom spawns and cover with plastic. If a couple of weeks, you’ll have mushrooms!
Composting 101
One of the first uses for coffee grounds that came to mind was composting. Composting coffee grounds is very easy and adds lots of beneficial nutrients back into the soil. Coffee grounds should never make up more than 25% of your pile, but you should be OK if it’s just your own personal consumption and not all the coffee grounds you got from the local coffee shop.
Odor Absorber
Coffee grounds are great way to get rid of those funky odors in your fridge. Just place a bowl of coffee grounds in your fridge and replace them once a month. Your fridge will be free of odors with this simple fix. It will also remove odors from your hands. It’s great to use after chopping onions or if you are cooking with fish and you can get rid of those lingering smells quickly so your dinner won’t cling to you an hour later.
Natural Scrubber
We already read that coffee grounds are great exfoliants, so naturally it makes sense that they would help clean your kitchen just as well. Use an old cleaning cloth and scatter it with coffee grounds and scrub away leftover food on dishes and counters. Unlike harsh chemicals, coffee grounds are a natural abrasive that won’t hurt your kitchen surfaces.
Cleaning the Fireplace
When it’s time to clean out the ashes in your fireplace, throw on some coffee grounds so the ashes are weighed down and won’t fly everywhere. Not only does this help clean up the ashes faster, but it will also keep the ashes from flying everywhere else in your living room.
Winter Helper
Do you live somewhere icy and snowy? Throw some coffee grounds out on your ice covered sidewalks for a natural and convenient way to melt the ice. The acid in the coffee helps the ice melt faster and keeps you and your family safe from falling.
Dough
Are you crafty and enjoy making your own dough? Just mix flour, coffee grounds, cold coffee and salt. The kids will love it, and they can make all sorts of creations with it.
Vintage Paper
You can make regular white paper into vintage paper by painting the paper with coffee grounds. Paint both sides and dry with a hair dryer. This will give the paper a stiff, wrinkled look like antique parchments.
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