If you’re a tea drinker, you may be wondering what to do with all those leftover tea bags. This has only recently become a concern in our house. Before we started brewing our own Kombucha (fermented tea) we were just occasional tea drinkers, maybe a cup of sleepy time tea all around once a week or so. My 12 year old would also make iced tea here and there. We just composted our tea bags. As the quantity grew though I decided we might find some other uses for them. Here are a few things you can do with your used tea bags:
#1 – Compost. Tea bags compost beautifully in your garden or compost bin. Simply add them to your compost heap and let nature takes its course. If you have roses you can also break open the bags and spread around the base of your bushes. Roses LOVE tea!
#2 – Under eye soother. Used tea bags, particularly chamomile bags, can be cooled and placed on achy, puffy eyes for a wonderful soothing relaxant. Works great to soothe pink eye too.
#3 – Use on sun burns. Peppermint tea bags are great for sunburns. Let them cool and then place the bags on the burnt areas. You can also place the bags in your bath water and soak!
#4 Dry Poison Ivy. Use a wet tea bag to rub on affected areas and allow to dry. This helps dry the area out so that it can heal faster.
#5 – Use on cuts and razor burn. Used tea bags are also great on cuts and bruises. You can use any variety but green tea, peppermint and chamomile have good soothing qualities.
#6 Scented sachets – If you like strong, fragrant herbal teas then open the bags after brewing and spread the contents on newspaper to dry. Add the dried tea to homemade perfume/potpourri sachets.
#7 Add to potted plants. The bags can be added to pots just above the drainage layer at the bottom. They will retain water allowing you to water less and they will leach valuable nutrients into the soil for the roots.
#8 Clean house. You can rub tea bags on mirrors and windows to get rid of hand prints and smudges. Tea can also be used to clean the toilet. Just give the bags a second soaking in the loo and 30 minutes later, scrub as normal. No chemicals!
#9 Soak smelly feet – Add multiple tea bags to some warm water and soak feet for 20 minutes. Perfect for when the kiddos play outside all day with no socks on!
#10 Hair conditioner – Re-soak your tea bags in some warm water for 10-20 minutes. Use that water to do a final rinse of your hair. This will condition it and make it super soft.
Do you have any creative reuses of your own to share?
Great tips! Besides cleaning glass, tea is also good for cleaning wood furniture (I’d still test in a less visible area first, of course). It’s also good for soaking off stuck-on grease and cheese from dishes
I have heard that, never tried it though. Maybe I need to clean my wood staircase after my next Kombucha batch. :)
Litter box deodorizer!
Great idea. :)
Another use for the tea bags is homemade self tan. But I haven’t tried it myself.
How do you use it for the toilet exactly? What does it do to clean it?
I don’t really see the relation toilet-tea