Even More Coffee Grounds Uses

In the past we've discussed several ways to use coffee grounds such as: dying Easter eggs, dying fabric, cleaning with coffee grounds, and using coffee grounds in your garden. But even with all those tips and ideas, there are still a few uses for coffee grounds that we've missed. Well today we are going to share those with you:

• Use them as a deodorizer for food prep smells on your hands. To do this dry the coffee grounds on a cookie sheet and then place them in a bowl in your fridge or freezer and the when you need to remove smells from your hands rub the grounds on them.
• Repel bugs. Coffee grounds are great to repel ants, sprinkle old grounds around places where you do not want the ants, they are also said to help discourage snails and slugs.
• Use to absorb odors. Take some old nylons or cheesecloth to make a sachet filled with old coffee grounds, hang them in a closet to help absorb odors. 
• Keep your own cats or the neighbors from using your garden as a litter box, spread a pungent mixture of orange peels and used coffee grounds around your plants and the cats will avoid it.
• If you have darker colored hair, use coffee grounds as a way to enhance color, shine, and softness. As you take a shower, rub the grounds on your hair, then shampoo thoroughly afterwards to remove the odor.

Dye Easter Eggs with Coffee

We've talked about using coffee to dye fabrics, however, with easter coming up, let's talk a little about using coffee to dye eggs.

So fire up your coffee maker and have some coffee ready to dye your easter eggs.

Brown Easter Eggs by Vera Kratochvil

To dye your eggs brown with the coffee you will need to add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 strong cup of coffee. To add designs and patterns you will need to cut up some panty hose and use flowers or leaves pressed against the egg and then tightly tie the pantyhose around the egg to secure the leaf or flower so it doesn't move during the dying process.

Place eggs into the dye, and let them soak in the dye in the refrigerator overnight.

We would love to hear about your natural Easter egg dying experience!

How to Clean with Coffee Grounds

Many people have their coffee everyday. It is almost a ritual of getting up, turning on the coffee maker and having a cup of coffee before beginning the tasks of the day. Most of the used coffee grounds from those cups of coffee are discarded immediately. But coffee grounds have many other uses, from making coffee body scrubs, to using coffee grounds in the garden, and yes even cleaning with them.

Dishes:
Coffee grounds can be used to clean dishes. The course texture makes them ideal for cleaning dishes that are typically hard to get clean. To accomplish this take some coffee grounds pack them into a square cloth and use a rubber band to tie the cloth shut around the coffee grounds.

Tools:
Some tools can become sticky or gunky after use. To clean tools that have a hard to remove product on them, use the coffee grounds as an abrasive to rub off the residue. The natural oil in the grounds also help to keep the residue from re-sticking to your tools.

Refrigerator:
Coffee grounds will not clean a refrigerator, but they can deodorize a fridge that has a less than pleasant smell in it. Fill a bowl or cup with coffee grounds and set them inside your fridge.

How to Dye with Coffee

Coffee has been used for ages as a way to dye fabrics, clothing, textiles, and even hair. Coffee dying tends to work best with natural fabrics. When washing your coffee stained fabrics you will want to avoid detergents that remove natural stains or your dye job might just disappear. If the fabric is new you will also want to wash it prior to dying as the sizing that is in most fabrics may cause it to either not dye at all or to dye unevenly.

First step to dying with coffee is to crack out your coffee maker and make a pot of coffee to dye with.

Dying Clothes, Fabric, & Textiles With Coffee:
Hopefully you already have your pot of coffee brewed. The other materials you will need are:

• A container big enough for what you are dying, your item needs to be able to float, not be crammed into a tiny bowl. (A washtub might be a good idea for this.) Fill your container with water.
• Item you are dying.

Mix your coffee into the water. Test a small area of fabric so that you will know how quickly the coffee will dye it and if it will soak into it properly. To test the fabric follow the directions for dying the fabric.

Use clear water to wet your fabric. Then submerse it into the coffee water mixture. Be sure that you keep your fabric moving so that no folds etc, sit for too long. You will also want to keep an eye on your dying so that you can see when the color is dark enough for your liking.

Once the fabric looks like it has achieved the color that you desire, take it out of the container and rinse it with clear water until the water running out of the fabric is clear.

Wring out your excess water.