If you find a car tire is slowly losing pressure and needs to be filled up with air on a regular basis, you may have a small puncture. This is usually when a nail ends up jammed into the tire and very slowly releases air over time. To save your tire, all you have to do is remove the nail and fill the small hole with a tire sealant. The inexpensive liquid fills the hole and lasts for two years. It’s a simple solution to prolong the life of a tire without having to replace it right away.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Ever open a bottle of vitamins or medicine and wonder why there’s a giant glob of cotton stuffed in there? It’s there for a specific reason: to protect the pills from breaking so you can get pristine pills in their intended form. But that sterile cotton isn’t actually cotton at all; it’s finely spun rayon or polyester. That’s because natural cotton can attract pathogens, and synthetic fiber cannot. So even though it feels like cotton, it should not be put in the compost bin. Instead, use the fill to wipe down your computer keyboard and then toss it into the trash.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Those super-durable, waterproof envelopes that come to you via UPS or FedEx are often made from Tyvek. While it feels like a plastic paper, it’s actually 100 percent polyester that’s spun together to make the heavy-duty material. Since Tyvek is hard to recycle, one thing you can do is save large envelopes for when you travel. Place ironed shirts in individual Tyvek envelopes (this will keep them from wrinkling), or put wet bathing suits in one when returning from your fun in the sun.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION