It might seem counterintuitive, but when you're cleaning up your garden, flowerbeds and/or yard this fall, leave as much dead plant material as you can. Piles of leaves, dried flowers and other dead plants give beneficial insects like bees and ladybugs a place to shelter during the frigid winter months. Even our feathered friends can benefit from this practice: The insects burrowing in dead plants offer a protein-rich meal to help birds survive the cold.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Do you have a junk drawer or an office desk drawer overflowing with random cords and cables for electronics, phones and other devices? If you're unsure what goes with what, you can declutter and recycle your cords. Many national electronics retailers will happily take the cords for recycling, at no charge to you. So what's in it for them? They can recycle the copper inside the cords! It's a win-win: You get to clean up, and you keep electronic waste out of the landfill.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Did you know one of the fastest ways to ruin a smartphone comes from Mother Nature? Too much exposure to the sun can cause your phone to overheat, degrading the performance of the battery and even melting the internal components, potentially ruining the phone for good. The easiest way to avoid this is to keep your phone out of the sun, and never leave it inside a hot car (including the glove box, which still gets very hot). When charging a phone on a hot day, take off the protective case; the case can hold in heat and cause overheating.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION