Sure, an organized closet with all of your garments on hangers looks great, but it may not be doing any good for some of those items, specifically sweaters. No matter what kind of hanger you use, hanging sweaters will cause them to stretch and lose their shape quickly. If you want to extend the life of your sweaters, it's best to fold them instead of hanging. And here's a useful tip if you're short on space: Fold your sweaters in half and lay them over the rod in your closet.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Before it gets too cold outside, take advantage of the cooler air to ventilate and detox the inside of your car. Park your car outside and open all of the windows to flush out the odors and toxins building up inside. Remove floor mats and vacuum them well; leave them in the bright sun to naturally deodorize them. And don't forget to pop the trunk and remove any unnecessary items while you're at it -- de-cluttering helps to lighten the load and improve your car's MPG.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Maintaining your car is a smart step in keeping it running like a fine-tuned machine and as energy-efficient as possible. If you do the work yourself, it's important to make sure hazardous fluids (like motor oil), scrap metal and old batteries get recycled. One national retailer -- AutoZone -- accepts all of these at no charge. When bringing in motor oil, transmission fluid and gear oil, be sure these fluids are sealed in a container with a tight-fitting lid (reusing the plastic bottles these came in is a great idea).

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION