Preventing cold air from entering the house in the winter is essential to keep your home warm and to cut back on heating costs. One summertime staple -- a pool flotation noodle -- can be used to help block out drafts. For older homes that often have large gaps under doors, simply cutting open a pool noodle and sliding it onto the bottom edge of the door can do the trick. It’s soft enough to not scratch floors and flexible enough to slide back and forth so the door can be used. For exact instructions, look online for easy tutorials by searching “pool noodle draft dodger.”

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It’s believed that around 20 to 30 percent of the trash thrown out of a typical home is food waste. Composting is one of the best things you can do to cut down on waste (and create some beneficial mulch for your yard and gardens). But composting can also attract some unwanted pests, like rats and mice. In the cold months, compost is attractive because the decomposing waste is covered and warm. To make it less appealing to animals, keep it wet and turn the pile with a pitchfork or shovel at least once a week; you can also limit your composted food scraps to veggie trimmings, eggshells and coffee grinds.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

What if every time you bought a cup of coffee, a pair of shoes or a bag of groceries, you could round up your purchase to the nearest dollar to help a worthy charity? A new smartphone app called Drops lets you do that, and it’s a cinch to use. Simply sync a credit card to the app after you’ve installed it on your phone. If you buy a cup of coffee for $1.97, Drops will automatically round up your purchase to $2 and donate the three cents to charity. You get to pick the charity, and every two weeks, the app gives you an update on how the spare change you’ve donated is helping to make a difference.

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