3. Freshen Your Fridge

Has your fridge started to get a little stink on it? Take your used bags from your morning tea and place them in a cup or bowl inside your fridge for a few days. The bags will absorb the orders and get your fridge smelling fresh and clean again.

4. Add Flavor to Pasta & Grains

Once you’ve brewed your cup of tea, you can re-use the bag to flavor other foods. Hang the pre-brewed bags into a pot of water while it comes to a boil to flavor the water, remove use tea bags, then add your pasta, rice, or other grains. Need some delicious ideas to get you started? Try jasmine or chamomile tea with rice, green tea with pasta, Chai or cinnamon spice tea with oatmeal.

5. Freshen Your Bin

The fridge trick also works for your garbage bin. Make sure the bags are dry before you drop them in the bottom of the bin, or they will start to mould and become part of the problem rather than the solution.

6. Feed Your Garden

Rebrew used bags in a bucket of water and use the resulting weak tea to water your plants and protect them from fungal infections. Alternately, open up used tea bags and sprinkle the damp leaves around the base of your plants to fertilize the soil and deter garden pests like mice. You can also add previously-brewed tea bags to your compost pile for a boost of nutrients. Just remember to remove the metal staple if your tea bags are the kind that have them.

7. Relieve Tooth Pain

When a chipped tooth of mine became infected last summer on holiday, I managed to make it the week until I could go and see my dentist thanks to a box of Chai tea bags. Placing a tea bag over an abscess can help draw out the infection and reduce pain. It isn’t a substitute for going to see the dentist (you should definitely do that ASAP!), but it can help you power through the pain until your appointment comes.

Continue reading on the next page to discover 8 more genius things to do with your used tea bags !