If you have pets or small children, there may be a good reason to remove magnets from your house. Small, powerful magnets called “neodymium” magnets come in tiny shapes and sizes, but have incredible strength because their magnetization is saturated. If more than two of these magnets are accidentally swallowed, they are naturally magnetized toward each other inside the body, which can puncture and rip intestinal tissue and cause serious punctures and wounds. Since powerful magnets are hard to recycle, it’s best to give them away if you want to dispose of them.

Do you want to prevent soap scum and hard water deposits from marking up your glass shower doors? There are chemical sprays that can create a siliconelike surface on them, which makes water bead and helps the doors dry more quickly. But you can also use an item from your pantry to get the same results: a potato. Simply cut a potato in half and rub it all over the inside of your shower door. The natural starch from the potato will act like an invisible barrier and help keep your shower doors clean.

Plastic binders can be very difficult to recycle because most curbside recycling programs don’t accept this unusual grade of plastic. Instead of tossing your heavy-duty binders in the trash, take them to Office Depot or OfficeMax for free recycling. The stores have partnered with TerraCycle to separate all the materials in the binders for recycling. And when you take in your old binder for recycling -- regardless of where you bought it -- the stores will give you $2 off the purchase of a new one.