Did you know you can cook a pot of pasta without even having the stove on the whole time? Try this energy-saving and foolproof cooking tip: Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the pasta; cook at a simmer for five minutes, then turn off the stove; cover and let the pasta sit in the hot water for an additional five minutes. Check the pasta: It should be perfectly cooked al dente and ready for your homemade organic pasta sauce. And remember, if you didn't salt the water, the cooled starchy water can be used to water plants outdoors.

Tired of getting preapproved credit card offers in the mail that just end up in the trash? It's easy to unsubscribe from these offers with just the click of a mouse. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit reporting companies are allowed to use your name on lists to creditors to make you offers for preapproved cards, but you can opt out from being on the list -- which eliminates the junk mail offers -- by visiting optoutprescreen.com. You can choose to opt out for five years or forever, and you can even opt back in if you ever want to be back on the list.

If you've boiled or flash-cooked a large pot of vegetables, don't toss the leftover water down the drain. Instead, let the water cool and give your houseplants or garden a nutritionally packed treat to help them thrive. The residual vitamins that come from the vegetables are incredibly beneficial for plants. Just make sure the water is completely cooled and free of any salt, which is dehydrating and damaging to plants. If there are bits of cooked vegetables in the water, strain them out before using the water for your plants.