With over 1 million nonprofit partners, the American Express Members Give program is a win-win scenario for everyone. You can choose your favorite charity to receive a cash donation on your AmEx card. Your donation is fully tax deductible, and you earn Membership Rewards points for yourself -- or to donate to charity, too. Plus, when it's time to do your taxes, you have an easy way to track your donations so you can deduct them from your tax returns.

While there are rules and programs in place to properly dispose of prescription pills so they don't end up in the wrong hands, we often don't realize over-the-counter medication needs any special disposal methods. But the reality is that these pills -- pain medications and sleep aids, for example -- should not be flushed down the toilet or tossed into the trash. Instead, mix them with used coffee grinds, sour milk or anything completely unappetizing before tossing them. Adding anything edible could make them tempting to wild animals or your family pet.

If you're a novice at backyard vegetable gardening, but your first season was successful, you may want to take advantage of the cooler weather to expand your garden. In multi-season climates, when the leaves change color, you can pile compost and soil right onto grass to naturally prepare it for plantings in the spring. Covering grass with a few inches of organic planting matter in the fall will suffocate the grass; let it break down and you'll have new raised beds when the snow melts away.