Does your cup of creamy yogurt come with a foil lid on top? If so, the good news is that the lid is fully recyclable aluminum. It's important to make sure there isn't any yogurt residue left on the lid. And since a single clean lid tossed into the recycling bin can easily become strewn trash on the road, it's best to combine several lids to make a more easily recyclable mass. So save your clean foil lids and mush them together, then recycle them when they've formed a good-sized ball.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

It seems like an economical way to stretch a bottle of hand soap: Just add water and dilute it a little bit. While at first this doesn't really change the chemical composition of the soap (it just makes it weaker), in the long run it can actually do more harm than good. Why? Soap is formulated to work from the first usage to the last, all to protect you, the user, when using the product. By adding water, you're diluting natural or chemical preservatives, which can turn the inside of the bottle into a bacterial breeding ground. Just don't do it!

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

If you have a surplus of avocados (perhaps from picking up a bunch at the store on sale), there is one simple thing you can do to help slow down their ripening process. First, choose avocados that are not fully ripe, which means green, firm and definitely not soft to the touch. Place them in the refrigerator, where the cool temperatures significantly slow down the ripening process and give the fruit a few extra days of shelf life. When you know you're going to want an avocado, take it out of the fridge and leave it at room temperature for a full day, then enjoy!

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION