Do Just One Thing

MAINTAIN THE COMMODE

A running toilet not only wastes around 200 gallons of water a day (which comes to about 6,000 gallons per month!) but it also -- on average -- can cost you an extra $100 on your monthly water bill. To find out if your toilet has a leak, add a few drops of food dye in the tank of the toilet. If any of the color in the tank makes its way into the water in the bowl before flushing, you have a leak. Now fix it: DIY kits are easy to use, and there are tutorials online that can guide you through the process step-by-step.

REUSE MAILING SUPPLIES

The United States Postal Service has a simple green tip for sending packages through the mail: Reuse what you have. Yes, you can use the perfectly sturdy cardboard box your new shoes came in as a gift box to send through the mail. You can run magazines, direct mailers and old mail through a paper shredder to use as packing material to protect fragile items inside the box. And instead of driving to the post office, save fuel and print out postage from USPS.COM, where you can also schedule a pickup at your home; the post office comes to your home six days a week anyway, so why not have them pick up your packages free of charge?

CLEAN THE KITCHEN

The stove is an energy hog in the kitchen, but one easy way to make sure it works as efficiently as possible is to periodically clean the drip pans and grates. It’s easy! When your stove is totally cooled down, remove the drip pans and grates and soak them in the sink for an hour in a mixture of baking soda and white vinegar. Use a scouring sponge to clean the burners on the stove; repeat until clean and wipe dry with a towel. Then remove the drip pans and grates from the sink; scrub, rinse and dry them and place them back on the stove.

RETHINK THE GARDEN

One of the best things you can do for healthy soil in your garden is to create a habitat worms love to be in. And just as you enjoy your morning cup of coffee, worms love coffee grounds. Scatter your used grounds in the garden for two big benefits: The grounds will attract worms (who will make your soil richer over time) and release nutrients like nitrogen, calcium, phosphorous and potassium into the ground. It’s simple: Just scatter the grounds and work them into the soil a bit, then let them go to work.

GO ELECTRIC

All-electric cars are becoming popular and more common. As demand grows for electric vehicles, so does demand for charging stations. To find charging stations, download apps like Plugshare onto your phone. Plugshare helps you find the nearest charging station, wherever you are in the country. You can even create a trip planner with the app to map out stations as you hit the road this summer. Then make sure to share your feedback to the community of EV drivers who use Plugshare.

CHOOSE PAPER TOWELS WISELY

While paper towels may not be the greenest option to clean up spills and messes, sometimes they are a convenient option when rags and cotton towels aren’t available. So when buying paper towels, look for 100% post-consumer recycled ones, which are usually a brownish color and unbleached. The reason? They are also a great addition to a compost bin after being used. Paper towels are 100% natural and are a fabulous addition to any compost bin to help aerate it. Adding layers of used paper towels creates small air pockets which help beneficial microorganisms to grow and make the compost rich and moist.

KEEP PHONE PROTECTED

Did you know one of the fastest ways to ruin a smartphone is exposure to natural elements? When your phone is exposed to the hot rays of the sun for too long, it can 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 especially to never leave it inside a hot car (even the glove box gets very hot). And when charging a phone on a hot day, take off the protective case; it can hold in heat and cause the phone to overheat, too.