Sure, bottled water isn't exactly the greenest beverage out there, but it's not a bad idea to keep a few bottles at home in case of an emergency. If you look at bottled water, it comes stamped with an expiration date. But the reality is, water never expires. According to the FDA, bottled water that is past its expiration date is perfectly fine to drink. The only thing you might notice is the water has a slight taste or odor. Be sure to store your emergency aqua in a cool, dark place where it won't get damaged.

Ever wonder what to do with a landline telephone or a cordless phone when it no longer works? There really isn't a market for donating them to charity, reselling them or listing them online to give away; if the phone doesn't work, nobody can benefit from it. But the phone and its components are recyclable. Best Buy accepts any type of landline phone for recycling. Just bring it to the store, and they'll accept it for free, regardless of if you bought it there.

If you've ever had something shipped to you that needed to stay frozen or icy cold, it probably came with frozen gel packs. The blue liquid "gel" inside the packs can be kept frozen, and the packs can be reused over and over again in a cooler for your picnic, for example. But if you want to get rid of the packs, go ahead and let them thaw. Open the packets with scissors, and let the liquid go down the drain. It's completely nontoxic. The empty plastic pouches can be recycled with plastic shopping bags at grocery stores.