Most of us toss out the skins of our fruits and vegetables. However, there are loads of ways that you can reuse peels around your home.
Those fruit and vegetable skins can serve as all natural cleaning products, make your house smell amazing, and even save you money on expensive beauty products. Here are 16 of our favorite ways to use them.
Teeth Whitener
Rub the sponge-like side of an orange peel on your teeth. Wait three to five minutes, then brush your teeth for the full brightening effect.
Cleaning a Coffee Pot
This is a well-known trick in the restaurant industry to get pesky stains out of a coffee pot. Squeeze some lemon into the pot and throw in the skins along with some salt and ice. Lime will work nicely too!
Swirl the contents around in the pot, then dump and rinse. Voilà! Your coffee pot looks brand new!
Face and Hair Moisturizer
Avocados can be expensive so you might as well get a double use out of them! Hang on to your avocado peels and rub them on your face and hair. Let it sit for 20 minutes, then rinse. The oils will leave your hair and hair silky smooth.
Tea Kettle Cleaner
Thanks to lemons, you don’t have to worry about how grimy your teapot is getting. Thinly slice some lemon peels and boil them with water in your kettle. Let it sit for about 20 minutes before you rinse your pot out.
Make Your House Smell Amazing
You can use an orange, grapefruit or lemon peel to make a beautiful smelling candle. Scoop out the flesh of the fruit. Make sure to leave the center stem as a wick. Fill the peel with vegetable, olive or canola oil and light the stem.
If you have a fireplace you can just toss in some citrus peels for a sweet smell.
Flavor Your Tea
Make your own flavored hot tea by tossing in an apple, lemon or peach peel in with the boiling water.
Face Scrub
Sprinkle a little bit of sugar on the inside of a peach skin and gently rub it on your face in a circular motion to exfoliate your skin.
Clean Your Pots, Pans and Household Appliances
Rubbing a lemon peel on stainless steel, chrome and copper will remove stains and restore shine.
Natural Cleanser
Ditch the chemicals when it comes to cleaning your house by putting citrus peels in a jar and filling it with white vinegar. Let the solution sit for at least two weeks. Take out the peels before you use it.
Get Rid of Ants
Cucumber peels serve as a child and pet-friendly ant deterrent. Leave the peels overnight where you see a lot of ants and they’ll be gone the next day.
Purify Water
If you need to purify your tap water, you can soak tomato or apple skins in alcohol for a day. This removes the microorganisms. Let the peels dry then soaks them in a bowl of tap water for an hour. Remove the peels and enjoy!
Get Rid of the Bags Under Your Eyes
Place potato peels underneath each of your eyes for about ten minutes to get rid of puffiness and dark circles.
Shoe Polish
Scrub your shoes with a banana peel, then buff with a towel to make them shine.
Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Grate the peel of a lemon and mix it with pepper and other spices to create your own seasoning.
Natural Fabric Dyes
Simmer colorful fruit and vegetable rinds for an hour at medium heat, then let cool to create natural fabric dyes. Beets, onions, cabbage, spinach and oranges work well for this.
Shine Up Your Houseplants
You can rub a banana peel on your houseplants to restore shine and keep them from looking dusty and dull.
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