It was a dumb mistake. I grabbed the biggest package of coffee filters—a pack of 1,000—only to discover much later that I’d picked up the wrong size for my coffeemaker. Coffee filters aren’t expensive, which is probably the reason I didn’t bother returning them to the store. I suppose I should have tried, but I didn’t. Instead, I began finding ways to use those filters for other things than making coffee. What I discovered is that the basket-style filters are super useful. It took a few years, but I used up the wrong-size stack of filters, and not to filter coffee! They became such a handy item that I bought the same size again, but this time from the dollar store. Most recently, I found 150 filters there for $1. Here are some of the things I can do with a coffee filter: Prevent Splatters Don’t you hate that mess …