Helpful Hints: Great Uses for Coffee Filters

We were at a party one night and a good friend passed out coffee filters with great ideas on how to use them.  It's good to have friends like that.

I've used the regular and big size to buffer my glasses and pyrex dishes and plates.  They work fabulously.

Out of dozens of uses, here are my favorites:

• Line your plant pots with a filter to keep the soil from leaking out of the drainage holes when you water them.
•  Put baking soda into a coffee filter and put it into shoes or a closet to absorb and prevent nasty odors. Put potpourri into the filter, tie it up and put it into your drawers, etc.  (I really like this idea, but I need to find some good potpourri.)
•  Line a plate with filters to absorb cooking oil of fried foods like bacon or chicken.
•  Put a scoop of baking soda in the middle of a filter, gather edges and tie with string. Add one or two to your ice chest to keep it smelling fresh between uses.
•  Keep your cast iron skillets rust free by lining with filters when not in use.
•  Wrap Christmas ornaments for storage. 
•  Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome.  Coffee filters are lint free.
•   Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.  (This would be great for my granddaughter who can never finish ice cream or Popsicles before they melt.)
•  Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a zip-lock plastic bag until they sprout.
•  Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in a phone book.

 These all sound so interesting, but I think I like using them as bowl separators best of all. Then again, where can I find nice smelling potpourri?