Pro Tips for All those Grounds!!

What’s your usual method for disposing of used coffee grounds? Does their destiny lie in the garbage disposal? The trash? Do you toss them out the window?

As it turns out, the coffee experience doesn’t have to end with the last sip of your mug. Those used coffee grounds are capable of an encore. They just keep giving and giving.

 

1 As an exfoliant. The rough texture of the coffee grounds can be used on your skin as a scrub. Coffee scrubs are all the rage. Just mix 1/2 cup coffee grounds and 1/2 cup sugar (any kind) with 1/4 cup coconut oil in a small jar with a lid. Work into wet skin, and rinse.

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2. Soil aeration and nitrogen boost for houseplants. Adding coffee grounds to your houseplants helps the pH balance (toward acidity) as well as increasing nitrogen and aerating the soil. Tomatoes love acidic soil!

3. Neutralize refrigerator odors. Placing them in the refrigerator acts as a natural deodorizer. The only thing you need to watch for is mold if you use damp grounds. Replace immediately with fresher grounds if it turns into a science experiment.

5. Dye Easter eggs or papercrafts. Soaking in a solution with water and used coffee grounds can be used to give an “antique” sepia appearance to watercolor paper or easter eggs.

7. Scour pots and pans. The gentle abrasiveness can help in the kitchen to remove stubborn caked-on food from your pots and pans.

8. Snail, slug, and cat repellent. In the garden, just mound up a barrier of used grounds around the plants which slugs and cats are attracted to. It will help keep them at bay.

9. Steroids for your carrot crop. Carrots love coffee grounds! They will grow larger and sweeter and the plants will have a greater yield. Just trowel them in around the immature shoots.

10 Fishing secret: Mix a cup of used coffee grounds in with your bait worms to keep them alive and wiggling longer. Plus, fish—especially trout and bass—are attracted to coffee-scented worms.