Our family drinks over a gallon of tea per week so as you can imagine we go through lots of tea bags. I use the family size bags to reduce cost and waste, but I decided to look into the different ways that I could get more life from them instead of just throwing them away. So here are 10 useful ways that I found to reuse tea bags.
Reduce Puffy Eyes – The tannins in tea help to reduce swelling and discoloration. Simply place cooled tea bags onto eyes for 10-15 minutes.
Soothe Skin – Cool, moist tea bags are great for reducing inflammation and soothing minor burns, bites, scrapes, etc. Simply massage tea bag onto affected area for relief.
Relaxing Antioxidant Bath – Tea leaves are high in antioxidants so adding them to your bath water is a great boost for your skin. You could also use relaxing herbal teas such as lavender and chamomile for a soothing bath.
Facial Steam – Chamomile and green tea help to soothe the skin so it only makes sense to reuse these tea bags for a healthy steam facial. Simply place tea bags in bowl full of hot water and cover head with towel over the bowl for a few minutes.
Natural Hair Dye – Did you know that tea can be used as a natural way to enhance and alter hair color? Black tea can be used to darken and chamomile to lighten.
Dye Fabric – Black tea is great for giving white fabric an antique look and was once a common method used to hide stains. Go here for a complete tutorial on how to stain fabric using tea.
Add Flavor to Foods – Reusing tea bags when cooking is a great way to add depth of flavor to your food. Simply place tea bag in pot while water is coming to a boil and remove once you add in foods such as rice, pasta, etc. Also, think about the different flavor combinations you could create using herbal teas such as lavender, chamomile, chai, etc.
Feed Soil – Tea is full of nutrients and is a great natural product to use in the garden. You can either rebrew tea bags and use the resulting cooled liquid to water plants or cut open tea bags and sprinkle directly onto soil for a boost in nutrients.
Compost – Did you know that tea bags can be composted? No need to cut them open just throw the whole bag into the compost bin. Just be sure to remove any staples they might have first.
Seed starter – Can you believe that you can actually start seedlings using tea bags? Once boiled, they’re sterile and the tea leaves are full of nutrients for the seedlings. Simply place a damp paper towel onto a seed starting tray and line with warm, damp tea bags. Cut open bags and place 1-2 seeds inside each bag. Keep warm, dampened and in a well-lit place until seedlings are big enough to transplant into larger containers or directly into the garden. (Has anyone had success using this method? I haven’t tried it, but it sounds interesting and fun for kids!)
Who knew there were so many amazing ways to reuse tea bags. Have you tried any of these methods? If so I’d love to hear your experiences!
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