ArcaMax

When it’s prom season in your community, you might remember some gowns, shoes and tuxedos that are stashed in your home. There are a lot of nonprofits that collect these items and distribute them to teenagers who otherwise could not afford them; search online to find them. You could also sell them online on sites like Poshmark for a reasonable...Read more

It can be hard to detect air leaks where cold air is blasting inside during the winter months, but the United States Department of Energy has two easy tips to find out if there are leaks in your house. First, turn off all the indoor and outdoor lights, and shine a flashlight on potential gaps inside the house. Have someone outside to observe the...Read more

Have you heard of “dark sky” outdoor light bulbs? This is a new way to keep your outdoor lights on without creating light pollution that can confuse migratory birds and sea turtles, who depend on the natural night sky to thrive. These LED bulbs emit a soft amber glow instead of a bright white light, so they're less disrupting but still ...Read more

Millions of car seats for children are thrown away every year in the United States; they cannot be donated, due to safety recalls, wear and tear and laws that prevent them from being resold or reused. The good news is that the hard plastic, foam and metal used in their manufacture is recyclable. To recycle a car seat, visit recycleyourcarseat....Read more

Do you start your car and let it idle when it's freezing cold outside, to allow the engine to "warm up"? While there is some valid reasoning around doing this, especially during the coldest temps, you don't need to do it for more than 30 seconds. Modern cars have improved fuel-injected engines that work perfectly well without idling your car for...Read more

If you must use disposable paper plates, go with the most boring, uncoated, unprinted kinds. Party plates that come in bright colors with shiny coatings are not compostable or recyclable and can be expensive to purchase. Generic white paper plates or durable "Classic White" Chinet plates get the job done and can be tossed into the compost bin at...Read more

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 hot shower steam filling the room), which warms up the perfume and ...Read more

The best way to make sure your clothes last as long as possible (and look their best) is to treat stains immediately so they don’t set. The best pre-treat product is natural dish soap, which can lift grease and other stubborn stains without wearing out the fibers. Apply dish soap to the stain and let the clothing sit for at least 15 minutes, ...Read more

Activewear designed to wick away moisture can help avid runners stay cool when they're moving, but these garments can be very difficult to clean. Over time, synthetic fibers can harbor odor-causing bacteria that normal laundering can't really get clean. One way to make sure frequently worn clothes (like workout gear) get clean is to pretreat ...Read more