What Can Tea Bags Be Used for? (Solved & Explained!)

Tea bags have a very distinctive purpose; for brewing tea, but are you also wondering what else they can be used for?

Tea bags can refresh your furniture, be used for weathering wood naturally at home, keep pests away, bring a refreshing smell to your refrigerator, to fertilize your plants, to make a glass cleaner, and as a product for self-care purposes. Used up tea bags can be used multi-purposely to recycle after usage. 

In this article we’ll tell you why you shouldn’t throw out your used tea bags, as they serve a lot of different purposes, including furniture reformation, and self-care. This article also covers all the uses tea bags can serve, other than for making tea, and how to use it properly. 

Can tea bags be used multi-purposely?

Most people throw away their used tea-bags after they’re done drinking their tea, what they don’t know is that, tea bags can be used for a lot of different purposes other than just making tea. Some of the uses are mentioned below:

• For weathering your wood furniture at home
• Cleaning glass, tabletops, mirrors, and windows
• Removing grease and/or fingerprints from dishes and glass
• Cleaning dirty shoes
• To keep pests away
• Get rid of garbage odor
• To give your fridge a good smell
• Can be used for home decorations
• Used to naturally fertilize your plants
• Make dishes easier to clean
• To marinate meat for home recipes
• To give dishes a unique scent and flavor
• Re-used in brewing new tea
• Keeps metal from corroding/rusting
• For self-care as masks to reduce eye-bags and face acne
• To hydrate your hair

Of course there’s a certain way to use tea bags so that they cater to the functions mentioned above, all of which will be discussed in detail later in this article. 

How can tea bags be used for cleaning?

Used tea bags can be used to make a DIY cleaning spray to help clean around the house easier. Gather all the used tea bags, and boil them together, once they’re boiled, discard them and use the mixture to put into a spray bottle. This inexpensive and economical mixture can be used for cleaning grime from surfaces or to clean glass and remove any grease present. 

Most people don’t know this, but tea contains tannic acid, which can be used to break down the stubborn particles and grease on dirty dishes. 

Get your dirty dishes, soak them in water to soften up the food particles, and then take the used tea bags and use them as a scrubber for your dishes. Alternatively, you can put the tea bags in the dish water and leave it overnight. 

Tea bags can not only be used for shining up glass, but also wood floors and shoes. For the wood floors use the same tea spray that you made before to make them shine. For shoes, if they’re full of dirt from the outside, take a few damp tea bags and rub them over the dirtier parts of the shoe, then clean with a damp cloth. 

Can tea bags be used for domestic care?

Along with cleaning, tea bags can be used for a variety of purposes around the house. First of all, it can be used to weather your wood to give it a vintage color suited to your aesthetic. The tea leaves contained within the tea bag have an originally brown, rich color which if boiled, strained, and brushed over the wood can make it look better and more visually appealing. 

Tea bags can also be used to keep pests and rodents away, according to a popular blog about tea. By hanging the used tea bags around your cabinets, kitchen shelves and pantry, the bugs and rodents will be naturally repelled. The tea bags can further be used to keep around fridges and garbage cans, to give them a better odor, just make sure to replace them from time to time. 

Another ingredient they can be used as is fertilizer for your home grown plants; recycle the used tea leaves and mix them within your garden soil. Tea contains many nutrients which are good for plant growth. Additionally, you can use the tea leaves as decorations to leave in glass bowls, they’ll emanate a good scent and make your home look good. 

In cooking, tea bags can be used to marinate meat (mixed in with spices), enhance the flavor of pasta based dishes (by putting some tea leaves in pasta boiling water), and be used to make stronger tea (by reusing the old tea bags in the new brew). Using a damp tea bag in your dishes can protect your crockery from corroding or rusting. 

Do tea bags have a purpose in self-care?

Believe it or not, you can also use tea bags and the tea leaves present in them for self-care. After you’re done making your tea, keep the still-warm tea bag under your eyes to reduce the puffiness and get rid of persisting dark circles. The caffeine present in the tea can also make you look more awake and refreshes in the mornings.

Tea bags can serve as a soother for sun burns. The tea leaves can also be preserved in the fridge and used as a face mask or an exfoliator. Just keep the used tea bags aside and use them to gently scrub and exfoliate your face whenever necessary. For better use, mix the tea into some other ingredients for longer lasting effects. 

Tea bags also have a hydrating effect for your scalp and your hair. Take the used tea bags and brew them again, now keep the mixture aside to be cooled. After that, pour the mixture onto your hair and leave it as is for 10-20 minutes to make sure the mixture has been fully absorbed by your hair. Wash your hair after and repeat for better results. 

Final thoughts

Tea bags are not mono-purpose, they actually have a variety of purposes due to the diversity of advantages tea can have, be it on your skin or for the products around your home. So before you think of throwing out your used tea bags, think again, and preserve them to be used around the house or for self-care later on.