For safety, wash fruits, then slice
If you love your avocado toast, listen up: Wash your avocados before slicing into them. The outside of an avocado has been touched countless times by hands at the farm, sorting facility, supermarket and finally at your home. When you take a knife to it, you contaminate the inside of the fruit by spreading potential illness-causing bacteria from the outside in. The solution? All you have to do is give the fruit a simple wash before slicing it up. This tip goes for any fruit or veggie you slice through the outer skin: Always wash it first.
EXPERIENTIAL GIFTS
It’s believed that
130 million Americans receive at least one unwanted gift every year, eventually throwing it into the trash. These are perfectly good, perfectly new presents people simply never wanted. If you want to give a gift that is guaranteed not to get tossed, think about experiential over material gifts. Consider everything from edible (dinner or a nice bottle of wine) to events (concert or movie tickets). Even paying off a parking ticket could be a much more appreciated gesture than any wrapped gift.
DECREASE JUNK MAIL
Tired of junk mail sent to your home and unsolicited emails clogging up your inbox? Turns out the No. 1 seller of your name and personal information is your credit card company. They make money by selling our information to direct mail marketers and other solicitors. If you want to put an end to the barrage of offers, call your credit card company and ask them to stop selling your name and information in mailing lists. You should also contact retailers where you have store cards. It’s worth the time to see a significant reduction in solicitations.
WATERING PLANTS
When the sun’s rays are at their peak, be sure to water your plants at the ground and not by spraying water all over their leaves. For one thing, it’s less efficient to water with a sprayer or sprinkler; less water gets to the actual roots where the plants need the most hydration. But there’s one more reason: Water droplets on the leaves of certain plants work like magnifying glasses, causing the leaves to fry in the sun’s hot rays. Rather than spraying the leaves, take a hose and soak your plants at the base.
PACK FOR A PURPOSE
Before your next journey abroad, be sure to check out the website packforapurpose.org. By “donating” a little extra space in your luggage, you can bring needed items to the communities you visit, like 400 pencils for a school, five deflated soccer balls with an inflation device for a youth sports program, or a stethoscope, blood-pressure cuff and 500 adhesive bandages for a local hospital. When you arrive at your destination, just find the local hotel or lodging facility that participates in the program and drop off your goods. It’s that simple.
CORNER LAMPS
Here’s a decorating trick that helps a room look great with less light. Instead of placing lamps in the middle of the room (on top of tables or by a sofa), place them in corners instead. This allows the light to illuminate with maximum exposure because it reflects off two walls instead of just one surface. More reflection means more usable light, and it also means less lighting needs to be turned on. For homes that are particularly dark, this can be an incredibly energy-efficient way to illuminate a room.
CHARITABLE GIFTS
If you’re having a celebratory event that normally involves guests bringing presents (like a birthday party) and you really don’t want any gifts, ask your invitees to bring items for a charity instead. Choose a local charity like a food bank, animal shelter or family services organization and ask what items they desperately need. Then ask everyone to bring those items as a way to facilitate gift-giving and charitable giving at the same time. Do the math: Twenty guests who each bring a large bag of pet food can be a big help for a small animal-welfare organization.