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We all love coffee for its aroma, flavour and definitely its pick me up. If you love to make your coffee at home either with a coffee roaster or coffee machine and always find yourself filling your dustbin with coffee grounds, why not recycle them?

There are numerous ways to use both fresh and used coffee grounds and here are five unusual ways to use coffee in the house:

1) Eliminate odours

Hate the smell of your hands after chopping garlic and onions? Add some coffee grounds to a bowl and add in a small amount of Castile soap. Scoop out a small amount of this mixture and rub your hands with it. You can also deodorise your fridge naturally by placing a small plate with coffee grounds.

Leave this jar in the fridge for a few days to get rid of all odours. Use your flavoured coffee grounds in a shallow container anywhere in a room to impart a fun smell.

2) Pin cushion filler

Dried and used coffee grounds make the perfect filler for DIY pin cushions. Just wrap up the coffee grounds in a scrap cloth, tie the end off with a rubber band and place it in a small container or egg cup. The grounds keep the pins from rusting too.

3) Clean dishes

Coffee generally has a rough texture; whether organic coffee or not. For this reason, coffee works great as an abrasive, meaning that you can use it to clean any tough to clean dishes. Place some grounds onto the cleaning rag and twist both ends with a band to secure them into place. This makes an excellent DIY cleaning coffee sponge.

4) Clean surfaces

Mildly acidic and abrasive coffee grounds are a great way for scrubbing surfaces like cooking ranges, counter tops and refrigerators. You can use them alone or add a little dish soap. If your furniture has scratches, mix two to three teaspoons of instant coffee and a little water to make a paste. Use this mixture to wipe the furniture and concentrate especially on the scratches. You can add a little olive oil or a spoon of vinegar to add shine to your wood.

5) Insect repellent

Coffee has a strong odour, which many animals and insects do not like. Ants, slugs, maggots and mosquitoes all dislike coffee’s acidity and will keep away from areas with coffee. Rub some used and damp coffee grounds through your pet’s fur to repel fleas after cleaning. It also improves the post-bath, wet-animal smell that gets all over the furniture.

So the next time you brew the perfect plunger coffee, be sure to enjoy both the benefits of caffeine and also try these unusual coffee uses.

Do you have any other uses for coffee? Please SHARE in the comments below.

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  • Used coffee grounds can also be a great deterrent to naughty cats that roam your street and toilet in your flower beds. Learnt that the annoying way!

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  • I’ve heard it can be good for your garden. I add it to my bokashi compost.

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  • Interesting that you can use it to get rid of fleas.

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  • I didn’t know it is an insect repellent.

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  • We use coffee as a body scrub at Milkie Co! :)

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  • So many uses besides drinking it! Thanks!

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  • Coffee grounds also make a great body scrub.

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  • Potted plants also like leftover grounds when watering, and good to add some dried grounds to your shampoo every now & then.

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  • Who would have known that coffee grounds were good for other things besides making a wonderful cuppa.

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  • Need to start drinking more coffee!

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  • Haha, this is a bit creepy to think something we drink can also be used as an insect repelling!

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  • Whatttt insect repellent!!!

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  • That is so awesome there’s so many uses for coffee grounds! I know that you can use it in plants to keep bugs away to and it’s fantastic mixed in with the soil

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  • Coffee can use as body scrub.

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  • Interesting tips! Not sure about rubbing it through my pets fur though ……

    Reply

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