If you love fragrances and want your perfumes to last longer, keep them out of the room where most of us display our bottles: the bathroom. Fragrances are susceptible to two things: light and temperature shifts. A bathroom heats up and cools down quickly when it's used (imagine a hot steam shower filling the room), which warms up the perfume and breaks it down. By displaying bottles out on a tray, you're also exposing them to UV light that speeds up the degradation process. Instead, keep your fragrances in the boxes they came in and store them in a dark, room-temperature location, like inside a drawer or closet.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Witch hazel is a natural astringent made from distilled flowers from an indigenous shrub native to North America. Many people use it to help treat acne-prone and inflamed skin, since it has wonderful anti-inflammatory benefits. But witch hazel is also naturally antimicrobial, antibacterial and antifungal. By pouring witch hazel into a small spray bottle, you can harness those benefits to create an instant one-ingredient shoe deodorizing spray. Just spray inside your shoes to disinfect and deodorize them naturally.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Do you buy fresh eggs from your local farmers market? They are usually the freshest, often laid just a day or two before they're sold. (Conventional eggs at the supermarket are often up to eight weeks old before they reach consumers.) But consider this when storing farm-fresh eggs: Mother Earth News suggests not washing them; fresh eggs have a "protective bloom on the surface of their shells that keeps out air and bacteria." Washing eggs removes that bloom and can shorten the shelf life of your eggs.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION