10 Ways To Reuse It: Coffee Grounds

Most people don't think of coffee grounds as having any use other than, well, to make a cup of coffee. But grounds have a life way beyond a shot of caffeine in the morning. Here's what you can do with them.

1. Clean your fireplace. You know when you're cleaning the fireplace, inevitably ashes get launched in the air and all over your house? Well, no more. Sprinkle your moist coffee grounds over the ashes before you clean them up. The moisture absorbs most of the dust so if doesn't land on your furniture.
   
2. Clean the stuck-on foods off your pans. Every once in a while something I cook either burns or sticks really bad to my pan. Coffee grounds are abrasive and acidic and work great to scrub. Just add a little water and a heaping spoonful of grounds to your pan and scrub away.
   
3. Keep cats out of your garden. Every year when I get my garden soil all ready to plant, every neighborhood cat from miles away comes and considers it their own personal litter box. I guess the appeal is just too strong. But for some reason cats don't like the smell of coffee. If you sprinkle a perimeter of grounds around your garden beds, the cats will walk away.
   
4. Deodorize your freezer. Coffee grounds absorb odors without leaving a coffee smell of their own. If you dry them out on a cookie sheet and then put them in an old plastic container with holes poked in the top, it will soak up any freezer odors. No more buying baking soda!
5. Remove garlic, fish or onion smell from your hands while cooking. Rub your hands with coffee grounds and then rinse. Then wash with soap. Your hands will smell fresh and clean again.
6. Win the war against grays. Are you a brunette? Coffee grounds are a natural hair dye. After washing, rub in some coffee grounds for a shine boost, softness and gentle color. Let set for a few minutes and then rinse out.
   
7. Make your own mushroom garden. Plant inoculated mushroom plugs in a jar full of moist coffee grounds. Repeat with more grounds and mushroom plugs until you run out of room. If you see mold, just remove it.
8. Touch up scratches on wood furniture. With kids around, my wood furniture is constantly getting scuffed or dinged. Now I'm all for the distressed look but sometimes enough is enough. Dip a cotton swab in moist grounds and touch up the scuff. This works best on darker wood.
   
9. Make a second batch of coffee. Keep your old grounds for the next day and just add half of what you would normally use. The taste difference is minimal and you've just made a new pot of coffee with a 50% savings.
10. Compost it! Coffee grounds add much needed acid to garden soil. Blueberries, radishes, beans, peas, peppers, tomatoes and potatoes all like a slightly acidic soil.

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