Frugal Tip of the Week – 9 Uses for Coffee Grounds

I have received several requests for frugal living tips to help you stretch your dollars just a bit farther! Over the next few weeks, I will be bringing you frugal home and living tips and creating a page where you can share your tips and questions with each other! Until then…

The following is a guest post from Anna, from homefrugalhome!

Here are some money saving tips and ideas for Coffee grounds.

One, coffee grounds are great compost. Add them to your compost mix and enrich your soil.There is a lot of nutrients in coffee, also vitamins, minerals, and nitrogen. Coffee helps many acid-loving plants like azaleas, roses, tomatoes, thrive. The filters are good for the garden too.

Two, coffee grounds make a great deodorizer. We bought a truck recently and it reeked with tobacco smoke. We cleaned it the best we could. Then we filled thin, nylon socks with coffee grounds to absorb the smell; it really worked. Our truck had a mild coffee smell, and after a short time there was not a trace of the tobacco smell.

Three, the grounds are a great skin exfoliant. My daughter has used it many times; it has been used to remove dead skin cells and make the skin much softer. There is a lot of oil in coffee grounds. The caffeine is said to aid in producing new skin cells. Women have claimed coffee grounds made their skin look younger and healthier. Try it as a body scrub. Some say it helps reduce the appearance of cellulite. Why pay for all the expensive skin care products when you can use natural coffee grounds right out of your own coffee maker. Get more for your money with your used coffee grounds.

Four, use Coffee grounds or liquid coffee in your hair. I have done this. It makes hair shinier and softer. It also enhances the brunette color.

Five, use it for dying fabric or for craft paper. I had some curtains that I wanted to make look vintage. I soaked fabric in coffee stained water. They turned out great.

Six, use it to dye leather. I have some wear areas on my real leather couch. I mixed some warm coffee water and rubbed it over my brown leather couch a few times. I actually came up with this idea and it worked!

Seven, try them in your worm garden. It has been stated that worms thrive in coffee filled soil.

Eight, use as an insect repellent. Caffeine is claimed as being toxic to pests such as snail, slugs, and grubs. The coffee smell is unpleasant to some animals. Try it as a flea repellent for dogs by rubbing the ground into the skin after being bathed, rinse well. Keep the cat’s feces out of the garden by sprinkling coffee grounds into the soil. I have even read articles claiming coffee grounds make a great mosquito repellent.

Nine, try cleaning your iron skillet with the grounds. People have claimed that the grounds eliminate scratches.

If you would like to have an abundance of coffee grounds, Starbucks and other coffee shops GIVE AWAY the grounds. I have seen gardeners take advantage of this free compost, including me. Next time you are at your local Starbucks, ask for some coffee grounds. They gladly give it away all nicely bagged up.I have gotten many pounds of grounds this way from Starbucks.