If you are a tea lover like me, you probably discard tea bags like they are going out of style. Here are some great ways to get a little more life out of them. Those little tea bags are way more versatile than you ever knew!
1. Tea Bath: Run your bath water over used tea bags and then have a good soak. Your skin will be left feeling super soft and silky {plus, it’s an excuse to soak in a bath!}.
2. Tea Compress: Place your used tea bags in the fridge for a bit and then lay them on your puffy, dark-circled eyes. The tannins in the leaves help reduce the puff and dark circles and will leave you looking all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!
3. Tea Healer: Have a sunburn, bruise or bug-bites or stings? Press a used tea bag {you can chill these, too} over the area and let the healing begin!
4. Tea-peat: Reuse your old tea bags alongside a new bag to make a stiffer cup of tea. It’s the perfect way to give your tea a little extra something without spending more money.
5. Tea Fertilizer: Let your used tea bags dry out and then sprinkle into the soil of houseplants, your garden, the base of your trees or your compost pile. Not only will it act as a fertilizer, but it will also help deter little pests and critters from gobbling up your garden.
6. Tea Band-aids: If you’ve ever nicked yourself while shaving and plastered your legs or face with little bits of toilet paper, here’s a great alternative. Press a used tea bag over the bleeding area and hold it there for a few minutes. The tannins in the tea will accelerate blood clotting. Who knew?
7. Tea Tenderizer: Use used tea bags to tenderize meats. I’ve done this with a whole turkey and it was so moist and delicious. I just threw a tea bag in with some water in the bottom of the pan. Easy as that!
8. TeaDye: Like tie-dye only cooler. You can use tea bags to stain wood, dye wool, and color cardstock to name a few. It’s a great natural dye alternative.
9. Tea Degreaser: If those hard to clean pots and pans are making you crazy, fill them up with hot water, throw a used tea bag in the pot and then let them soak overnight. In the morning the stuck on junk and grease will rinse right off.
10. Tea Deodorizer: Those little tea bags pack a pretty smell-removing punch. Place them in your fridge, in your smelly shoes, in your car, or hidden all over your teenager’s rooms to absorb odors.
Do you use your used tea bags in any other cool ways I’ve never heard of. Please share in the comments below!
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diane @smartmoneysimplelife says
Wow! What an amazing list?! Most of those uses are new to me.
I usually just dump the used tea bag into the compost but I think I’ll try using them directly, instead. I’m sure the ‘tea deodoriser’ idea will be useful, too.
Thanks!
Mavis says
Let us know what you try and how it works out for you!
Cindi says
tea-riffic ideas!
Mavis says
Haha! You’re so punny!
Heather H says
I’ve had children with extremely smelly feet. You know, you’re family’s watching a movie together, someone takes their shoes off and EVERYBODY knows??? Phew! Anyway, my podiatrist friend one time suggested I have them soak their feet in water with tea bags (used would be fine) and the smell should go away for a while or longer. It worked!
Mavis says
Seriously? Who knew. I’m so going to try that with the smelly boy feet in my house!
bob says
after drying them i (re)use them in my egg carton wax firestarters (along with sawdust)
Jimbo W says
When I was a pre-teenager
(in the early 1950s) I had to have a tooth extracted. The Doctor told my Mom the packing should stay in for a couple of hours after we got home. If the bleeding starts we should place a tea bag in the hole and I should apply slight pressure to it. It worked, the bleeding stopped in less than half an hour.
Juanita says
I was going to comment the same thing! Wet tea bags work wonders on a toothache, or after having a tooth extracted.
Nectarios Petropoulos says
Gotta love these hilarious names! I’m amazed at those uses too, since I don’t even think of reuse the tea bags. Great post, Mavis!
Tammy says
Wow, I just throw mine in the compost. Who knew there were so many uses?
People used to dry them out and send them to the missionaries. Seriously…as if missionaries weren’t real people? My great-aunt who was a missionary in Africa for many years told me that she got these (and many other “exciting” things!) That was in the day when things had to be shipped across the sea.
Emma says
If you dip dry used tea bags in kero they make great firefighters when dry
JC says
Along with the sunburn one I have put unused tea bags right into a cool bath when I had a bad sunburn on my legs. It did wonders. I’m excited to try to use them as deodorizers though. I’d love to open a closet and smell earl grey instead of mildew.
Julie says
Yes! I do this, along with the unusable slivers of bar soap, or the leftover wax melts that no longer give scent when heated. My hand towels and sheets smell neutral – rather than old particleboard.
BB says
Many of these are great ideas. However, #4 is not a great idea if you are a serious tea drinker. It doesn’t make a stiffer cup of tea. America thinks that adding a little hot water to an already used tea bag is just fine. However, I don’t often see people running hot water through coffee grounds a second time. I find it really insulting in a restaurant when they are more than happy to give coffee drinkers a refill or two, but if a tea drinker would like more the best they can hope for is a little more tepid water for their used tea bag. Good luck getting a second tea bag. Tea doesn’t cost that much to start with. Do yourself a favor and do it right- boiling water, fresh tea bags every time, and a teapot. It’s really worth it!
Susan says
I’ve used old tea bags into a diluted dye bath for turning white tights into cream colored tights for my Children (years ago) and now my Grands. Works like a charm and much cheaper than purchasing off white/cream colored tights.