When traveling abroad -- or if you're just not sure if the tap water in your home is safe (perhaps there was an outage, your filters are out of date or it just looks suspect) -- consider boiling it. It's the cheapest, fastest and most effective way to purify water and remove harmful pathogens and bacteria. And it's simple: Just fill a teakettle with cold tap water and bring it to a boil for one minute. Remove it from heat and allow it to cool. Even in countries where drinking tap water can be questionable, this method is one foolproof way to purify water.

When it comes to choosing a shower curtain, a nylon one is the greenest and easiest choice. Unlike fabric curtains that need a plastic liner, nylon curtains are naturally water-resistant and do not need a second liner. But they are also greener because they don't off-gas the way old-fashioned PVC shower curtains do. Even better: Unlike PVC, which is not recyclable, nylon shower curtains are recyclable and can be made into new products, like carpeting, string and fabric.

When shopping for new baskets, rugs and woven furniture, one sustainable material to look out for that's durable, eco-friendly and inexpensive is water hyacinth. Many Asian countries have had an uptick in the growth of the invasive aquatic water hyacinth plant. While beautiful in appearance, it can literally choke waterways, killing aquatic wildlife and turning lakes and streams into dead zones. Instead of using chemical herbicides to poison the waterways, furniture companies have been hiring local villagers to collect the plant, which is then dried and woven into beautiful home accessories. This keeps the waterways alive, provides jobs and turns a problem plant into something beautiful.