The Many Uses of Coffee Filters

There is a spam spewing email inundating the internet that touts the many uses of coffee filters. It's actually a quite useful set of ideas except that a more sustainable practice would be to use a rag, a reusable cleaning cloth, or one of Methods multiple use clothes that are for glass, wood or stainless steel. If you are set on sticking with coffee filters just make sure they are unbleached and natural, and don't forget to follow #15, my added suggestion, to compost those bad boys.

Okay, here goes:

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.
2. Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.
3. Protect China. Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.
4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a bottle of wine, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
6. Apply shoe polish (who uses shoe polishes anymore?!). Ball up a lint-free coffee filter and use to apply polish.
7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.
8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.
9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.
10. 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.
11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke a hole or two, as needed, in a coffee filter and drop the popsicle handle in. Drip will fall onto filter and away from little (or big!) hands.
12. Use strips to wax your eyebrows. (*disclaimer. this is not something I advocate unless you truly know what you're doing!!!)
13. Put a few filters in a plate and put your fried bacon, french fries, chicken fingers, or other greasy foods on them. They soak out all the grease.
14. Keep them in the bathroom for "razor nick fixers."
15. Compost. Compost. Compost.

I had some dreams. They were clouds in my coffee...

clouds in my coffee, and you're so vein, you probably thought this song was, oh sorry. I got caught up in my inner-Carly Simon.

Coffee. A multi-million dollar industry which is the new gold. Black Gold, as featured in the documentary by Nick and Marc Francis. Its like crack for the upper class. Everyday you can find them out perusing for their fix at the local Starbucks and Peets. I can't help but wonder if the trek is really worth the extra effort and toll its taking on the environment over just waking up a bit earlier and making your own freakin' cup of coffee in a your very own coffee maker. What's that you say? Tastes better? Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you're right. Who knows. I'm a tea drinker myself. Yeah, yeah. Save the machismo for someone else. But here's the thing. Every trip that you make to the local fixer-upper has considerable effects on the environment, assuming that you are opting to get yours in a to-go cup. 22.75 pounds of waste per year, and that's only for the first cup. According to Starbucks, they saved 655,000 pounds of paper from heading to the landfill when they offered their customers a discount for bringing their own mug in. (*Disclosure: I am a Peets fan through and through.) Who knows who counted the saved pounds and whether Starbucks merely threw out the numbers for good marketing, but its a start. If it provides an incentive to get the "bring your own mug" wave going then more power to them.

So, are you feeling the java love? Ready to jump onto the environmental bandwagon? Well guess what? You can actually get a reusable cup that looks like a disposable cup. And, if you're a chick (or a very confident man) who likes to throw a little color into the mix, you can choose to accessorize with my favorite, the Hip Grip sleeves by Allie Walker Designs. Either way you'll be spreading the love to Mother Earth just a little each day.

I had some dreams. They were clouds in my coffee, clouds in my coffee, and maybe you're not so vein after all... Sing it Carly, baby.