Top 10 Uses for Used Coffee Grounds

While browsing the web last night, I came across a great posting from our friends over at curbly.com. They give us some interesting uses for your used coffee grounds. If you'd like to check out the original posting on curbly.com, click here.

Without further adieu, here are what curbly.com lists as the top 10 uses for used coffee grounds:

10. Deodorizer. Dry them out on a cookie sheet and then put them in a bowl in your refrigerator or freezer, or rub them on your hands to get rid of food prep smells.

9. Plant food. Plants such as rosebushes, azaleas, rhododendrons, evergreen and camellias that prefer acidic soils will appreciate the leftovers from your morning cup. Also, grounds can add nutrients to your compost bin.

8. Insect repellant. Sprinkle old grounds around places you don’t want ants, or on the ant piles themselves. The little buggers will move on or stay away. Used grounds are also said to repel snails and slugs.

7. Dye. By steeping grounds in hot water, you can make brown dye for fabric, paper and even Easter eggs.

6. Furniture scratch cover-up. Steep grounds and apply a bit of the liquid to furniture scratches with a Q-tip.

5. Cleaning product. As they’re slightly abrasive, grounds can be used as a scouring agent for greasy and grimy stain-resistant objects.

4. Kitty repellent. To keep kitty from using the garden as her personal powder room, sprinkle grounds mixed with orange peels around your plants.

3. Flea dip. Follow up Fido’s shampoo with a coffee ground rub down, working them down to his skin. Not only are the fleas suppose to vamoose, but puppy’s hair will feel soft too.

2. Dust inhibitor. Before you clean out the fireplace, toss wet coffee grounds over the ashes to keep the ash dust under control.

And, finally, the #1 use for used coffee grounds....drum roll here....

1. Cellulite reducer. Mix 1/4 cup warm, used coffee grounds and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. While standing over an old towel or newspaper, apply the mixture to your "problem areas". Next, wrap the areas with shrink wrap and leave on for several minutes. Unwind the wrap, brush loose grounds off your skin and then shower with warm water. For best results, it is recommended to repeat this procedure twice a week. A little weird to be sure, but as high priced cellulite creams have coffee in them, it just might work.

While myself (or anyone else at Corporate Essentials) can verify that we have tried all of the above uses for coffee grounds, we strongly urge you to give number nine (plant food) a try. To take that one even a step further - try using your used coffee grounds (or even single-cup pods) as compost for your garden. Because the material used to make the pod filters is 100% biodegradable, you can bury them in your garden just the way they are.

Do you have any other uses for coffee grounds? Let us know in an email, and we'll send you a Corporate Essentials t-shirt.

Star-Ledger features Corporate Essentials in "What it takes to make Happy Workers"

Corporate Essentials was featured in a recent article in New Jersey's Star-Ledger. The article, by Beth Fitzgerald, was part of the Sunday, June 24th Star-Ledger.

Focused on in this piece was Corporate Essentials' relationship with Newark's Gibbons Law Firm:

Gibbons: Starting with a cup of coffee

Attorney Cheryl Gorman has her first cup of coffee in the morning when she arrives at work. She is a director at Newark's Gibbons law firm, which provides its entire staff with fresh-brewed Starbucks, 24/7, for free.

"It really makes a difference," Gorman said. "We can be here 'til past midnight, and coffee helps pick me up."

There are coffee lounges on every floor, with marble counters and a high-tech machine that brews Starbucks by the cup. Legal secretary Allyson Deloatch explained why she likes this particular employee perk: "Let me tell you - I've experienced bad coffee."

By providing this amenity, the firm "is saying look, we value you and want you to be happy," attorney and director Bruce Levy said. "And when I want a cup of coffee, I can get one in five minutes instead of a half-hour to go out to Dunkin Donuts."

"Good, free coffee is one of the least expensive benefits you can provide your employees, and the workers get that benefit all day, every day," said Judson Kleinman, whose Fairfield (NJ) company Corporate Essentials supplies the coffee service for Gibbons. "People are really emotional about coffee, and it also helps them work. It gets their day started and keeps them focused on the task at hand."

Not that anyone ever took a job for coffee. But Patrick Dunican, managing director of Gibbons, said, "This, to me, is one of the most important things a 21st-century employer should be aware of and should be doing for their employees. The quality and availability of coffee is important to employee morale, and it has increased productivity."

Click here to view the Full Article at nj.com.