One of the easiest and prettiest ways to clean the air in your home is to utilize houseplants. Studies have shown putting one average houseplant (those that come in 6-inch pots) per 100 square feet of your home can remove up to 87 percent of indoor air pollutants. The key is to place the plants where they have access to sunlight and are in the most-visited rooms, like the office, living room or bedroom. If you have trouble keeping plants alive, look for houseplants marked “plants of steel” at the nursery. These are plants that can thrive on low light, low humidity and even if you forget to water them from time to time.

Replacing a refrigerator, stove or dishwasher in your home? Wondering what to do with the old one, especially if it's still in working order? GE Appliances (geappliances.com) wants you to donate it, and the company is making your charitable quest easy. Just search “donate” on the website, and you'll see a listing of nonprofits that will take your working appliance from you. Nonprofits like The Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul and Habitat for Humanity are listed as sources that will pickup and resell or use your appliances toward their good works.

When shopping for a new window-unit air conditioner for your home, understand that not just any size works for any room of the house. If you install too large an air conditioner, yes, it will cool a room very quickly. But air conditioners do two things: They remove heat and humidity from the air. If it cools too quickly, it removes the heat but leave the excess moisture, making it feel very cold and damp. To choose the right unit, measure the room you want to cool and search "air conditioner cooling needs calculator" to find an online tool to help you choose the right size unit. And as always, look for Energy Star-rated models to save the most energy to stay cool this summer.