Fluorescent tube lights are commonplace in commercial spaces, but also in laundry rooms and garages at home. While they do contain much less mercury than traditional CFL bulbs, they still have small amounts. Plus, as anyone who has replaced a tube light has probably witnessed, they are very easy to break. The good news is that LED technology has caught up with tube lighting. There are companies that are now creating LED tube lights that fit in the same fixtures, but have no mercury and last as much as 20 times longer. Search online to find suppliers.

There is an urban legend that colleting rainwater on your own property is illegal in many states. The reality is that, yes, in about a dozen states, it is against the law. But you have to read the laws carefully to understand that it doesn't apply to small-scale collection at home. The laws simply require water rights permits when it comes to using public water supplies (like waterways), or when it becomes water collection that's done on a massive scale. But if you have a rainwater collection system that simply collects water for your own property use, not only is it perfectly fine, you may be eligible for tax credits for installing such a system.

Many of us are avoiding petroleum jelly-based products when it comes to skin care for everything from lip balms to body creams. We've nearly become experts when it comes to reading ingredients labels to avoid it. But some brands that use petroleum jelly -- a byproduct of the oil industry -- can get around listing petroleum jelly by calling it something else. When reading ingredient labels, be sure to also look for words like "paraffin," "petrolatum" or "mineral oil," which is basically the same thing as petroleum jelly.