Many of us have gift cards for stores like J.C. Penney, Target and Kohls, with just a few dollars left on the card. Instead of letting the cards go unused, you can donate them to the nonprofit Sew Much Comfort, which takes new clothes and retrofits them into adaptive clothing (with hook and loop closures) to provide wounded service members with normal-looking clothing that they can easily put on and remove. Since 2004, Sew Much Comfort has distributed more than 122,000 pieces of clothing to wounded soldiers. Learn more and donate at sewmuchcomfort.org.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

A tube of toothpaste is typically packaged in something called LDPE, or No. 4 plastic. This is becoming a more commonly accepted type of plastic for curbside recyclers, but they often don’t list it among the varieties of plastic they accept. If your recycler takes plastics marked No. 4, you can recycle your tube of toothpaste, as long as it’s clean. Cleaning it is easy; all you have to do is snip the end with scissors and get the last bit of toothpaste out (use it to scrub your pearly whites clean!), then toss the tube into the bin.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Just because something is certified organic does not mean it’s always healthy for you. Case in point: organic spirits like tequila or vodka. While it may be a good thing that organic ingredients are being used to make the product, it’s still alcohol, and it should be enjoyed in moderation. Even conventional spirits are still pesticide-free; the distillation process removes all trace pesticides and chemicals that may linger in the crops used to make these alcoholic beverages.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION