If you want to make a home-cooked stew or a slow-cooked roast beef for dinner, you might want to leave the oven turned off and reach for a crockpot instead. Not only are crockpots easy to use, they are also a more energy-efficient way to cook. The amount of energy wattage a crockpot uses is about 90 percent less than a conventional electric oven. And new crockpot models in the marketplace are even more energy-efficient. You can even find smartphone-enabled crockpots that let you lower and raise temperatures and turn off or on from your phone, wherever you might be!

The next time you squeeze a lemon, don't toss the fruit away. You can use the residual juice to clean things around the house. The natural citric acid in lemon juice helps break down stains, and it disinfects, too. Rub cut lemons over laminate countertops to remove stubborn stains. Rub lemons and salt over cutting boards to scrub them clean and sanitize them. If you have clothing with rust stains, soak the stain with lemon juice and cream of tartar, then launder as usual. It should get the stubborn stain right out.

If you've got a stack of playing cards that are beat up or missing a few cards, you might be tempted to toss the whole deck into the recycling bin. But you shouldn't, and here's why: They aren't recyclable. Even though they feel like regular paper stock, playing cards are coated with a thin sheet of plastic to give them durability. This plastic makes them non-recyclable. Instead of contaminating a load of recyclables, throw them away in the trash, or upcycle them into a fun craft project.