Don't Buy Bottled Water!

The bottled water craze of the past few years has resulted in a floating "island" of plastic corralled by whirlpool-like currents in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Most of these bottles are said to come from the United States and China, so if you think that those items are being recycled, think again. Additionally, the type of plastic used in these products often contain bisphenyl-A, an estrogen mimic that has been implicated in many health disorders. If you need water on the go and you tap water is treated with chlorine, buy either a faucet or whole-house filtering system and a stainless steel travel bottle. This method is cheaper in the long run, better for the environment and better for your health.

Clean and Green Laundry

When you shop for laundry detergent, look for vegetable-based surfactants as well as a lack of dyes and fragrances. I was surprised when I first learned that laundry detergents used petroleum-based surfactants, but there weren't any alternatives at the time. Well, actually, I used Ivory Snow for years (until they stopped making it). These days, there are a few brands that are using vegetable sources for their laundry product. I read once how many barrels of oil per day we would save if everyone used these veggie-based detergents rather than the oil-based products. I don't remember the number, but it was astronomical. Switch as soon as you can--it's better for your health, too.

Clear Plugged Drains Without Nasty Chemicals

A plugged kitchen or bathroom drain is a real pain. Daily doses of grease and food debris for the kitchen and hair, soap scum and other oddities for the bathroom drains take their toll, and soon you're looking at all that gunk real up close and personal. Here's a recipe I've used for many years, and always works: put a half-cup of baking soda in the drain, followed by 2 cups of white vinegar. Close the drain until the fizzing stops, then follow with a kettleful of just-boiled water. It may take 2 or 3 applications, with plunging in between, but it will work. Obviously, it won't work if there is standing water, so don't wait until the problem is that bad. A kettleful of boiling water dumped down each drain once a month will also help prevent this problem in the first place.

Raccoon-Proof Your Trash

Raccoons, with their dexterous little hands, can easily remove garbage can lids and spread your trash all over the neighborhood. A neighbor had problems with these bandits even though he bungee-tied the can lid on and put a rock on top! I told him to spray the top of the trash bag with ammonia before putting the lid on. He was very pleased when this technique worked. Don't go too crazy with the ammonia, however, or the trash pickup workers won't touch it, either!

Disposing of Poultry Bones

A great cold-weather method of getting rid of bones from chicken and turkey feasts is to burn them in your wood stove. Get the fire roaring, then feed a handful in at a time; don't do too much at once, particularly if they are wet. It may take a couple of days for the bones to be completely consumed, but it really works. My neighbor told me about this trick a while back, since I have lots of these bones left after I make the cat's food. Don't try this in an open fireplace, though!

Yogurt: Food for Your Skin and Hair

If you have dry skin, try using yogurt for your nightly cleansing. Use the full-fat, Greek style--the milk fat and lactic acid will do wonders for your skin. By the way, it also makes a great hair conditioner: Comb through hair, put on a plastic cap for an hour or so, then shampoo. The cost is low, and you're not putting chemicals on your body. Oh, and this yogurt tastes great, too!

Cold-Weather Skin Care

Most of us don't need to scrub ourselves every time we shower during the dry, cold winter months; doing so only exacerbates dry skin, causing itching and other problems. Don't skip the shower, but try using a washcloth or loofah and just water on your arms and legs, saving the soapy scrubbing for the parts that really need it (you know what they are). This will effectively exfoliate your skin without stripping it of natural oils. You'll use less water, less moisturizer and save time, as well!

Fix Skipping CDs and DVDs

If cleaning a balky CD or DVD with white vinegar doesn't do the trick, try rubbing some hair conditioner on the disc, then buffing it off with a soft cloth. The conditioner will fill in surface scratches well enough that the laser can move over them without skipping. It won't work on deep scratches, and is only temporary, but can be a evening-saver when the movie you're watching starts breaking up with only 20 minutes until the end!

Better Than Fat Wood for Starting Wood Stove Fires

Fat wood really works well for starting fires, but is quite costly. Talk about sending your hard-earned money up in smoke! I've found that pine cones work just as well, if not better. Just two will start a fire without much tending, and cramming one into a reluctant fire will really set a fire under it (Ha!). The best part? They're free. If you don't happen to have a ready supply in your yard, pack up the kids and go to the nearest park, armed with empty grocery bags. Some years are better than others for this "crop", so when they are plentiful, dry them in the sun and store in a spare trash barrel until needed. Oh, and use disposable gloves for gathering them--it's very difficult to remove the pitch from your hands.

The Best Wood Cleaner, Ever

Baking soda is the best way I have found to clean any kind of wood--finished, unfinished and even painted wood. Dissolve some baking soda in a bucket of warm water and start cleaning! For particularly dirty surfaces, make a paste and rub with a rough cloth. Besides being cheap and non-toxic, it is one of the few cleaners that will do a great job without disturbing the finish. Do you have an especially dingy piece of furniture that you think needs refinishing? Try the baking soda trick first. You might save yourself some work!

Natural Hair Coloring

If you want natural-looking hair color, try henna. This product is as natural as you can get--it's actually ground-up henna plants. Best known for its red shades, henna comes in many varieties of color, so you're sure to find a match. It's messier than chemical hair color, but it doesn't stink (it smells like mud!), have harsh ingredients or pollute. It works by coating the hair shaft, so it conditions, as well. It colors each hair shade differently (white hair doesn't come out as dark), so the end result looks more realistic and less "shoe polished" than other DIY hair coloring kits. Be sure to get the real McCoy, as some drugstore products call themselves "henna" but contain very little of the plant itself.

Efficient Oven Cleaning

In my opinion, the self-cleaning feature of most modern ovens is an immense waste of energy. I used it once, when I was first married, and the heat created made me worry that the cabinets on either side of the appliance would ignite! Of course, they didn't, but the high temperatures necessary to reduce spills to ash is just too wasteful. Also, if you forget to take the racks out, they become permanently discolored.

To avoid using this cycle, clean spills as they happen. If you have a baked-on mess, try this: Warm the oven, then sprinkle baking soda on the spill until it is covered. Spray some soapy water on the baking soda, then close the door and wait about 20 minutes. After that amount of time, you should be able to scrape the mess off using a pot scraper (another great tool). Repeat the procedure,using a scrubbie pad to remove any lingering traces of the stain.