This week we have a guy who's moving into his own place and taking the stuff he bought with him. The trouble is, his old roommates use some of those things and aren't being given much time to adapt. Is there a nice way to deal with a situation such as this?

We told you to rinse your recyclables. "But what about the wasted water?" you asked. So we asked some scientists. The short answer is, a quick rinse is usually worth it. The long answer is also pretty interesting!

If your clothes seem to have more static cling in the cold months of winter, you're not crazy. The lack of humidity makes it a lot easier for static electricity to build up. Fortunately, there are few things you can do to get rid of it.

Did you know that normal LED bulbs can burn out quickly - more quickly than incandescents - when connected to dimmer switches or old wiring? I sure didn't, until all the expensive LEDs in my living room sputtered out!

OK look, this is news to me, and even though I got roasted by my editors for only just learning this, I bet it's news to some of you too: You can leave a glass of water out for months, and so long as it was properly cleaned, it's not going to make you sick.

A belated New York Times obituary pays tribute to inventor Frances Gabe, who designed, built, and lived in "the world's only self-cleaning home." Gabe comes across as a delightful and ingenious crank in a home full of "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" contraptions. Her big idea: Turn the average home into a giant dishwasher.

After you do a few loads of laundry, the measuring cap for your detergent can get all gunked up and sticky. If you're tired of that, you can give it a thorough cleaning with your next load of laundry.

Can you leave your recyclables dirty? A little, yes. But don't leave them filthy, a recycling professional tells MEL Magazine. While recycling plants eventually wash all the materials they recycle, a lot of it sits around first. Excess food waste can attract pests and make it more expensive to recycle things. So if you're throwing filthy containers into the recycling bin, you might do more harm than if you just threw them in the trash.

Decluttering old or useless junk might make you feel jubilant and free, but not everyone shares that mindset. Whether it's a ratty old recliner your spouse won't give up, an overabundance of cookware in the kitchen, or a collection of weird posters your roommate hung in your living room, there are ways to compromise when it's time for a thorough spring cleaning.

When you have a few guests over to an apartment, and you don't have a dedicated coat rack, coats usually go on the bed. But if it's wet out, and you have a nice bedspread, grab some hangers and have guests hang their coats from the shower curtain rod over the tub instead.

Dear Lifehacker, I consider myself a pretty organised person. The rest of my family? Not so much. It's not that we're totally out of control or anything, but with three kids, there are lots of activities, messes abound, and schoolwork is always a hassle. What can I do to get us all more organised and in sync with each other?

Most of us have a knife block in our kitchen, but not everyone has the knowledge of a master chef. When you need to peel, chop or serate something, it pays to use a knife that was designed for the task at hand. This graphic explains the proper use of the nine main types of kitchen knife, along with a few useful tips.

Some people have problems that require delicate advice from a qualified professional. Others just need a random a guy on the internet to kick 'em in the teeth with their blunt honesty. I'm the latter. Welcome back to Tough Love.

Is your home always stocked with the cushiest brand of tissues, toilet paper, paper towels and napkins? Good, stop reading. Everyone else: This is a remedial course in how to fill your home with paper hygiene products like an adult. I realised the importance of this course when discovering that several of my younger friends don't buy tissues. Before you send another guest to the bathroom to blow their nose, please read.

Getting kids out the door in the morning can go one of two ways: They wake up early and then dawdle, forcing a last-minute scramble, or they wake up late, forcing a last-minute scramble. I know very few people who get to school or day care on time and with serenity - maybe those folks who have a late start time and a short commute? But after a particularly spectacular late-fest in our household last week (late waking, breakfast eaten one crumb at a time, generic dawdling, forgotten backpacks), I decided to look around for some time-saving tips. Here are seven.

Your garbage smells bad. If you get one of those airtight lidded bins, your garbage only smells bad when you open it, releasing a wet rancid fog right into your face. The best fix is to separate your food waste and store it in the freezer. But unless you're composting that food waste, that's too much work. Instead - or also - add some essential oil.

Cleaning out your house is a monster job, physically and mentally. Every decision to toss something becomes a reckoning of your lifestyle. Even when you decide to get rid of a hat, a DVD or a vase, you have to decide whether to give it away, sell it or actually toss it. Today let's just focus on the easy decisions: The stuff you can actually throw away, recycle or (good for you!) compost.

You have problems, I have advice. This advice isn't sugar-coated - in fact, it's sugar-free, and may even be a little bitter. Welcome to Tough Love.

Many foods typically eaten around Christmas can be particularly troublesome if they happen to land on your clothes or tablecloth. PartSelect offers this holiday stain removal guide covering everything from gravy to sticky candy canes.