Smart decorating can help improve the natural flow of a home and make use of every inch of space. But decorating can also help you keep your home warmer during the winter months. Older homes often have no sidewall insulation, which can allow cold air from outdoors to be absorbed through the walls, adding chill inside your home. If your sidewalls have no insulation, you can place bookshelves or other heavy furniture against the wall to help block cold air. Decorative quilts hung on the walls look good and insulate, too.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

You may choose to rake up all of the fallen leaves on your property, but if you can do these two things with them, your yard -- and the planet -- will benefit. First, leaves are an excellent organic material to add to compost piles or to use as mulch around plants to help insulate them during the winter months. Second, don't disturb fallen leaves around your trees' root zones; over time, they'll decompose and add much-needed nutrients for the trees to grow and be healthy. It works in forests, so it should work in your own yard.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

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