Are you throwing out used tea bags? The healing properties of tea are well known, but many may not realize that used teabags still have antioxidant-rich properties that can serve many other functions.

Tea Bag Usage Ideas

1. 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.

2. Get Rid of The Eye Redness Put a couple of tea bags in cold water for about 2 minutes. Place them onto your eyelids for a couple of minutes. The redness gradually decreases as antioxidants absorb into the skin.

3. Freshen Your Clothes and Shoes In order to make your clothes smell fresh you could store previously used and dried teabags in the closet.  You can also put one tea bag in each shoe. It will help you get eliminate unpleasant odors in no time.

4. Clean Your Home Freshly brewed tea is great for cleaning wood furniture, mirrors, and floors. Just boil a couple of tea bags in a quart (liter) of water and let it cool. Dip a soft cloth in the tea, wring out the excess, and use it to wipe away dirt and grime. Buff dry with a clean, soft cloth.

5. Get Rid of Acne And Mitigate Sunburns If you have acne and/or sunburns, teabags can give you such much-needed relief. Simply dip a cotton ball into the tea, dab it on the affected area, and let it air-dry.

6. Soothe those bleeding Gums The child may be all smiles later when the tooth fairy arrives, but right now those bleeding gums are no fun whatsoever. To stop the bleeding and soothe the pain from a lost or recently pulled tooth, wet a tea bag with cool water and press it directly onto the site.