It may not lead to a picture-perfect backyard, but leaving the dried heads of your flowers intact in the fall through the winter can do a lot of good. As they poke through the wintery white snow later this year, the seed heads provide needed nutrients and sustenance to birds. They land on the dead flowers and peck at the seed heads. You can also collect dried flowers with seed heads and bundle them into a "bouquet" of sorts. In the winter, hang them from a tree so birds can feed from your buffet.

Got an old down feather comforter or pillow and not sure what to do with it? Since old feather-filled home products can also be filled with dust, mold, mildew and bacteria, it's best not to donate them to charity. Instead, rip 'em open. Since feathers for these products are just washed (not chemically treated), they break down pretty quickly in a garden setting. Feathers are full of nitrogen, so if you sprinkle them in your garden and till them, they'll biodegrade in a few weeks or months.

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!