In the summer months, it's imperative to take simple steps in your outdoor garden to help conserve water. The biggest step you can take is to make sure the soil for your landscaping is properly conditioned. If there is too much clay in the soil, it can keep water from being absorbed, which will cause plants to wilt. Conditioning the soil with organic matter like compost and sand aerates the soil and allows you to water less and get better results. Add a few inches of mulch on top of the soil to help prevent evaporation.

If you wash your car at home, do it over grass or soil and not on a paved surface. When you wash a car on an unpaved area, you allow the soapy, dirty water to soak into the ground, where it has a chance to filter and soak back into the soil as groundwater. Be sure to use biodegradable detergents or soaps to wash your car, especially if you have your own well water on-site, since contaminants from chemical soaps can leach into your own water supply.

Has the power gone out in your home due to a storm? Not sure what's safe to eat or what to toss from your refrigerator? The United States Department of Agriculture has a website that lists what to do with each item in your fridge. It warns that appearance and odor are not good indicators of which foods are safe to eat. For example, dairy products like milk should be tossed, but butter and processed cheese are fine to keep. Fresh fruits that are cut should be tossed, but an open jar of fruit juice is fine to keep. For the whole list, visit foodsafety.gov.