If you're planning to throw a Thanksgiving feast for a crowd, here's how to prevent food waste when you're not sure how much to cook. First, the facts: About 28 billion pounds of perfectly good food is thrown away every year. To prevent waste and help reduce that number, use these approximate portion sizes per person for Thanksgiving. Expect to serve 1 pound of turkey per person, along with 1/4 pound veggies, a few tablespoons of cranberry sauce, 1/4 pound stuffing and 1/8 of a 9-inch pie per person. Have reusable containers ready for leftovers so you can reduce your meal waste to zero.

If you squeeze toothpaste from the tube using your fingers and you can't get any more out, don't throw it away: There's still about 10 to 15 percent of the toothpaste still in there! There are products you can buy that will help you squeeze out every last drop, but why buy when you have what you need right at home? Grab a bobby pin, clip it to the end and push it up; when you're all the way at the top, you know you've gotten out every bit of paste.

Over 7 million dogs and cats enter shelters every year, and approximately 3 million of those are euthanized. One way to help these animals is to always adopt, not shop, when looking to add a companion animal to your home. But if you're not ready, you can also post images of adoptable animals on your own social media feeds on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Tagging people who may be on the fence about adopting could help sway them to rescue an animal.