When it's time to bring your houseplants indoors, do this one thing: Sprinkle them with black pepper. Ground black pepper is a natural deterrent for insects, so any little bugs that may get a free ride into your home will run away from your peppered plants. Just mix a large amount of black pepper with white flour, and gently sprinkle it on top of the leaves and ground -- using a metal sifter makes it a mess-free project. Wait 24 hours before you bring the plants inside. All of the bugs will be long gone, and the peppery flour will naturally degrade and disappear.

Every single day, over 100 disposable pens are tossed in the trash. One way to help stop waste is to invest in a high-quality refillable pen. But many of those pens can be really expensive and difficult to refill. Instead, look for the seven-year pen. Its design marries the convenience and price of a disposable pen with the eco-attributes of a refillable pen. The big difference between it and a disposable pen? The seven-year pen hides a jumbo ink cartridge inside a highly durable pen casing, and it can write up to 1.7 meters of penmanship a day. That equals a lifespan of seven years.

If you're interested in helping big cats like lions and leopards, one way you can help is to fund the building of "bomas" in African villages. A boma is a fenced-in area that protects and maintains livestock. It's a barrier between the big cats and cattle, and it discourages locals from retaliating against lions who kill cattle. For $500 -- and $25 a year to maintain -- you can increase the safety of big cats. Learn more at buildaboma.org.