One easy way to make healthy snacks at home is to use a dehydrator to transform fresh fruits and veggies into delicious treats. But investing in a dehydrating machine can cost hundreds of dollars -- excessive if you don’t plan on dehydrating every day. Some recommend using your oven as a dehydrator; all you need to do is set the oven to the lowest temperature possible, crack the door open and let it slowly dehydrate your food overnight. But this uses a ton of energy and adds heat to a home -- not to mention the safety hazard. So forget the full-size oven and look toward a toaster oven instead. It’s more energy efficient, and it has vents to release moisture.

Clean, used aluminum foil is fully recyclable, but before you crumple it and toss it in the recycling bin, give it a reuse at home. Fold the sheet of used foil in half, then half again, and one more time. Take dull scissors and cut into it several times. The foil will help sharpen the dull blades of the scissors. When you’re done, wad the foil and recycle it.

Wrinkle-resistant clothing sounds like a time-saving wonder fabric. When you launder something like a cotton dress shirt at home, it often comes out of the dryer wrinkled and needing to be pressed. This can be time-consuming, but resist the temptation to buy wrinkle-resistant shirts. A toxic chemical called formaldehyde is used in the resin that coats this fabric. Instead, try washing clothing and letting shirts and pants air dry to minimize wrinkles. Or, if you must buy no-iron clothing, wash them at least twice before wearing them to remove the high levels of chemicals on freshly treated clothing and to help minimize skin irritation when you wear them.