10 Fantastic Uses for Paper Coffee Filters

Melitta Bentz loved to drink coffee. But she didn’t like the bitter taste a pot of coffee acquired when it was brewed too long. So Bentz, who was a German housewife, invented paper coffee filters. The filters were patented in June of 1908, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Paper coffee filters have many advantages. They are easy to find, cheap to buy and, they’re lint free. These benefits make coffee filters handy to have around your house, even if you don’t brew coffee! Here are 10 fantastic uses for paper coffee filters:

1. Give Windows, Mirrors and Chrome a Brilliant Shine
Use paper coffee filters and your favorite glass cleaner, and your windows, mirrors and chrome will sparkle. Since coffee filters don’t leave lint behind, you won’t see specks of paper on the glass and chrome surfaces.

2. Shine Up Your Leather Shoes and Boots
Have you ever dressed up, put on a good pair of shoes or boots, and noticed that your footwear is dirty? Dampen a paper coffee filter and shine them up in no time. You can use a second filter to dry each shoe.

3. Dust Wood Furniture and Knick Knacks
Another fantastic use for paper coffee filters is to dust your furniture and knick knacks with them. These filters are gentle enough to use on most any material.

4. Keep Your Cast Iron Skillets Clean and Dry
The next time you wash and season your cast iron skillet, place a couple paper coffee filters inside it before you put it away in the cupboard. The filters will help keep your skillet clean and dry so it doesn’t rust.

5. Protect Fragile Christmas Ornaments
I store my fragile Christmas ornaments in sturdy boxes that contain many partitioned sections. The individual sections keep my decorations from rubbing together and becoming scratched or otherwise damaged. But, the ornaments still bounced around and rubbed on the sides whenever I moved the box. The solution? I wrapped a paper coffee filter around each ornament to further protect them from harm.

6. Teach Your Kids How to Make Flowers for Craft Projects
The flat, round type of paper coffee filters work great to make flowers. Your kids can leave them white. Or, they can dunk each “flower” in some water paint to give them attractive colors. Once the flowers dry, your kids can paste the flat bottoms on a piece of cardboard. Then, they can use crayons or colored markers to draw stems and leaves to finish making the flowers.

7. Safely Clean Your Computer Monitor
It’s not recommended for laptop computers, but I clean my PC monitor with an electronics cleaner and soft, lint-free paper coffee filters. I’ve done this for years without any streaking or scratching!

8. Protect Dishes When You Pack Or Store Them
If you’re moving, or just storing away some dishes, place paper coffee filters in between each piece to help keep them from getting scratched, cracked or broken.

9. Soften the Flash on Your Digital Camera
The problem with taking close-ups with your digital camera is that the flash often causes your subject to look “washed out”. Try placing a paper coffee filter over your flash the next time, and it will diffuse the light and soften the picture.

10. Keep the Soil Inside Houseplant Pots
I love houseplants. Sometimes, though, when I accidentally overwater a plant, the soil leaks out of the holes in the bottom of the pot. To stop this mess from happening again, place a paper coffee filter in the bottom of each pot before you add the soil.