7 Brilliant Household Uses for Used Teabags You’ll Wish You Knew Sooner
There is truly nothing that compares to kicking off the day with a hot cup of coffee—it is my absolute morning ritual! Yet, as the evening approaches, I usually transition to a comforting cup of tea.
You are familiar with the drill: you put the kettle on, and in no time, you’ve got a piping hot mug prepared—once you drop in your preferred tea bag, naturally.
A couple of minutes pass, you pull the bag out, throw it in the trash, and savor your beverage.
However, ever since my grandmother revealed a few brilliant ways to reuse old tea bags, I have completely stopped tossing them in the garbage.
Continue reading to explore these ingenious ideas for giving used tea bags a second life. You might be shocked by how incredibly handy they are—and they might even help you save a little money in the long run!
1. Alleviate sunburns. Take a used black tea bag and run it directly under cold tap water. This straightforward home remedy will quickly become your ultimate fix for sunburns, whether you are soaking up the summer sun or traveling to new destinations. The tannic acid naturally present in black tea helps heal the skin and delivers a soothing, cooling sensation.
2. Soothe minor burns. You can also recycle those sunburn-soothing tea bags for other minor emergencies. If you accidentally burn your skin, just lay a cool tea bag directly over the affected spot. The tannins within black tea work wonders in calming superficial burns.
3. Eliminate warts. Were you aware that green tea is loaded with powerful antioxidants that can actually halt the growth of warts? All you need to do is grab a used, cooled green tea bag and press it right onto the wart.
Leave it there for 15 minutes, then remove it and swap it out for a second, freshly cooled bag. Hold this new one on the area for an additional 15 minutes. Within a matter of days, you should observe the wart beginning to fade away.
4. Banish puffy under-eyes. The tannins located in black tea are also highly effective at diminishing swelling and puffiness around the delicate eye area.
The next time you brew a cup, do not discard the bag! Instead, place it inside a small container and stick it in the refrigerator for a day or two. When you are ready to combat those stubborn under-eye bags, simply pull a couple of the ice-cold tea bags from the fridge and rest them over your eyes.
5. Break down stubborn grease stains. Do you find yourself leaving pots and pans to soak just to combat stubborn, greasy residue?
Just fill up your sink with hot water and submerge your dirty dishes. Drop a few used tea bags into the water, and you will discover that the grease and stains wipe away with far less effort.
6. Natural weed killer. A simple tea bag can easily be converted into a highly effective, natural weed deterrent.
You can attempt pouring brewed black tea straight onto the unwanted weeds, or you can whip up a DIY solution combining citrus (such as grapefruit or orange), tea, and water. Furthermore, letting black tea steep inside a jar filled with vinegar and orange peels creates an excellent weed-killing spray, a trick recommended by Tip Hero.
7. Plant fertilizer. Used tea bags make fantastic fertilizer for your compost bin, and you can even bury compostable bags or loose-leaf tea directly in the soil surrounding your plants. Rose bushes absolutely thrive on this, and both indoor houseplants and outdoor garden varieties, like ferns, reap the benefits. By burying the loose leaves or tea bags close to the root systems, you provide direct nutritional support for the plants’ growth.
Have you ever attempted utilizing tea to boost your gardening game? Which of these clever tricks are you most excited to try?
We would absolutely love to read your thoughts in the comments section! Please feel free to share these incredible household remedies with your friends and family over on Facebook!