A bit of Heloise and some handy, helpful hints

Normally, I don’t pass these things along or forward them in emails. But somehow, this interesting, fun and actually quite helpful list of “uses for coffee filters” arrived in my inbox recently, and I got such a kick out of reading about all the uses people have come up with for these little liners, I just had to share them with you!

As far as stitching goes, I’d like to add that in a pinch, coffee filters can be used for foundation piecing (just iron them flat with a medium hot iron first) and they also make good substitute temporary stabilizer for machine appliqué and machine embroidery! I’ve been known to use them a time or two in the wee hours of the morning or on a Sunday afternoon when I ran out of my favorite stabilizer and all the quilt shops and/or fabric stores in the area were closed. Quilters are nothing if not ingenious!

If you can add your own “coffee filter handy hint” to this list, please leave a comment and share with us.

COFFEE FILTERS:

Not just for making coffee…. 

• Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they’ll leave windows sparkling. 
• Protect your good dishes and china from scratches. Separate them by putting a coffee filter between each dish. 
• Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter. 
• Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust. 
• Apply shoe polish. Roll up a lint-free coffee filter. 
• Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter. 
• Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale. 
• Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods. 
• Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes. 
• Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter. 
• Use strips of coffee filters to apply wax to your eyebrows.
• Put a few on a plate and lay fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, or any greasy foods on them. Coffee filters soak up all the grease. 
• Keep in the bathroom. They make great razor nick-fixers, and they are also handy for keeping your fingers from touching the gunky stuff when you remove hair and other ickies from the shower drain.
• Coffee filters can shine your mirrors, TV screen and your computer monitor.
• They work great to remove makeup or cleanup for a cut. 
• Use them when we are having French fries as a snack. Drain off any excess grease and make a cone out of the coffee filter to give each person a cone of fries. It is fun and no dishes to wash!
• A coffee filter is just the right size for little hands to use to hold a sandwich.
• Clean your eye glasses with a coffee filter and they will be lint free…
• Coffee filters can keep your fingers clean if you serve a messy hot dog or popcorn in them.
• Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.
• They’re great to use for kids’ crafts such as paper snowflakes.
• Make homemade cleaning wipes with them. Mix 2 cups of water and 1 cup of cleaning solution and store them in a leftover plastic coffee container.
• Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.
• Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. They keep things from spattering.

Did I mention, they also make great coffee?

🙂