You’ve had your coffee and you’re awake-ish, so you rinse out the French press & toss the soggy grounds, then move on with your day, right? Not so fast. Those little blobs could actually do a lot more for you than just sit in your trash can, as used coffee grounds work wonders. Let’s look at ten clever uses for leftover coffee grounds. Who knew beans could be so useful?
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Polish Scratched Wood Furniture
If you have a scuff on your dark wood table, get a cotton swab, rub on a bit of the grounds, and then dab it on the mark. Wipe it off after a few minutes. This will stain the scratch just enough to help it blend in, and this trick works best on darker finishes—lighter woods won’t match well. Just make sure you don’t use flavored grounds because the syrups could leave sticky spots, and you might want to test a small area first to make sure it works okay.
Patch Up Gouges in Dark-Colored Walls
But that’s not all for fixing up your home because you can also use coffee grounds to fix any chunks missing from a wall in your garage or basement. Mix the grounds with a little glue or flour paste and smear it in—while it’s not a perfect fix, for dark walls, it blends better than bright white spackle. Try to use a toothpick or putty knife to smooth it out & let it dry overnight. As long as you stick to rougher, drier areas, you shouldn’t have any issues.
Make Coffee-Based Natural Dye for Fabric or Paper
Anytime that you want to make something look old on purpose, such as giving your notebook cover a cooler look, boil some used grounds in water and then strain them. This will create a sepia-toned dye that you can use on cotton & paper, without relying on high-tech supplies. Depending on how deep you want the color, let the fabric soak for an hour or more—you could even dip string or yarn in it for crafts that don’t look straight out of a craft store.
Deter Ants Around Entry Points
Ants are rather irritating, especially if they keep showing up around your doorway or windowsill, so try sprinkling some dry coffee grounds in their path—ants don’t like the smell or the texture. It’s enough to keep these bugs away without spraying your whole house with nasty chemicals, as long as you refresh the grounds every couple of days. The trick works best when you follow the exact trail they’re following, and it’s enough to stop them from marching straight into your kitchen.
Add to Homemade Fireplace Logs
If you’re the kind of person who makes your own fire logs, try putting some coffee grounds into the mix by blending them in with wax & sawdust before shaping your logs. They help slow down the burn and add a subtle toasty smell when the log lights up—you’ll need to let the logs dry completely before using them, or they won’t burn right. Make sure you don’t overload the mixture, either, and a 1:3 ratio of grounds to sawdust usually works.
Clean Ash From Your Fireplace or Grill
Speaking of the fireplace, cleaning up ash is always a mess because it goes everywhere, but a quick way to solve this is by sprinkling some damp coffee grounds on top of the ash before scooping it out. It weighs the fine particles down a bit so you’re not breathing in a cloud of gray dust, and the trick works for grills, too. Don’t soak the grounds too much, or they’ll just make sludge, and a handful goes a long way to make cleanup quicker.
Remove Buildup on Cast Iron Pans
Coffee grounds are also great for cleaning off that gunky layer on any cast-iron pans without ruining the seasoning because they’re gritty enough to scrub, but not harsh enough to mess up your pan. Just rub in some dry coffee grounds with a soft cloth, then rinse it, dry it, and you’re done—it works best if the grounds are fully dry. After cleaning, rub the pan with a little oil to keep the seasoning.
Repair Small Cracks in Sidewalk Cement
Hairline cracks in the sidewalk aren’t a problem with coffee grounds because you can actually press them into the cracks before sealing, which gives the patch some texture & colors. You should only use it on narrow cracks, rather than the ones where water’s pooling, and you have to clean the area first. It dries fast, and the color blends especially well with darker cement.
Camouflage Scratches on Dark Car Mats
Car mats always get messy and if yours are looking a little patchy, you could try rubbing some used grounds into the scuffed-up areas and let them sit for a second. Then, vacuum them up—it doesn’t fix the damage, but it makes the wear less obvious, and you should only do this on fabric or carpet-style mats. Do a test section before doing the whole thing in case the color’s too dark.
Grow Oyster Mushrooms in a Bucket
It’s actually possible to grow mushrooms at home without turning your kitchen into a science lab, as you only need to mix in some mushroom spawn with coffee grounds. Throw it in a bucket with a few holes in the sides, and keep it moist—in a few weeks, you’ll see mushrooms poking out. You’ll need to replace the mix with fresh grounds every few days to keep it going and you should layer it like lasagna, while keeping the bucket in a spot with indirect light, not full sun.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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