How Bad Is It… To put

25 Orphan mittens 26 Travel guidebooks 27 Chargers for old electronics 28 Wire hangers from the dry cleaner 29 Dusty potpourri 30 Chopsticks and soy sauce packets 31 Your “fat” clothes 32 Carpet remnants 33 Filled coloring books 34 Stretched-out bras 35 Scratched nonstick pans 36 Anything with an antenna 37 Prescription eyeglasses that are no longer your prescription (go to lionsclubs.org for info on how to donate) 38 Umbrellas with bent or broken spokes 39 Allen wrenches from DIY furniture 40 Checkbook registers 41 Disposable cameras 42 Musical instruments no one plays anymore (go to mhopus.org for info on how to donate) 43 Business cards 44 Smelly towels 45 Fishbowls 46 Fancy loose teas you received as a hostess gift 47 The Yellow Pages 48 Soccer uniforms the kids have outgrown 49 Vases that came with delivered flowers 50 Commemorative spoons and plates

how bad is it …

Straight answers to scratch-your-head questions.

What’s in here, a brick collection? Concrete blocks?

…to put food that’s still hot in the fridge?

Perishable food shouldn’t sit out longer than two hours, so it’s important to get that soup/casserole/stew in the refrigerator sooner rather than later. Just make sure that once it’s in the fridge, your food doesn’t remain hot long enough for bacteria to grow. To get food to cool down quickly, “divide it into a few shallow containers, then stagger them on different shelves in the fridge to allow airflow,” says Kantha Shelke, Ph.D., a spokesperson for the Institute of Food Technologists. Bonus: Refrigerating hot food in sealed containers can make leftovers more flavorful because they lock in the aromatics. not so bad!

…to keep charging your phone after it hits 100%?

You may think leaving your phone plugged in after it’s fully charged will weaken the battery, but your phone really is smart: Its battery stops accepting the charge once it reaches capacity, says Isidor Buchmann, founder of batteryuniversity.com. What does shorten the battery’s life span is routinely letting the phone go dead before charging it back to 100%. When possible, plug the phone in when the charge falls to 30% to reduce stress on the battery. “It’s better to charge for shorter periods of time more often,” says Buchmann. Letting the battery get hot also takes a toll. If you’re going to leave your phone plugged in for a while, remove the case so heat can escape. not bad at all!

…to tear out a page of a magazine at the doctor’s office?

Resist the urge to rip. Tearing out an article, a recipe, or a photo of a pillow you want to buy is a selfish act, says etiquette expert Cynthia Lett, author of Modern Civility. “First, the magazine doesn’t belong to you, so it’s stealing,” she says. “You’re also saying, ‘I’m more important than anyone else who might want to read this.’” Consider, too, that the page you tear out may have an article printed on the other side. Instead, take a photo of it with your phone or jot down the page number and issue date so you can find the magazine later. Or—if the office isn’t busy and has a copy machine—politely ask a staff member to make a photocopy for you. really bad!