Blog Posts by Real Simple Magazine

Six easy ways to freshen your breath. By Rory Evans

Water

How it works: Bad breath can occur when the bacteria on your tongue break down the proteins in mucus and food-especially sugar and dairy products-which can cause the bacteria to release sulfur compounds. Result: stinky breath. However, bacteria's sworn enemy is oxygen, which is found in your own saliva. And drinking water (go with straight water over sugary flavored versions) makes you produce more saliva, which in turn neutralizes bad breath, says Harold Katz, a dentist in Los Angeles and the founder of TheraBreath.com.

Good to know: Some medications, including anti-depressants, blood-pressure drugs, and antihistamines, can cause a dry mouth. If you take them, you may want to increase your water intake beyond the widely recommended eight glasses a day.

See More: 6 Doctor-Recommended Sleep Aids

Vegetables

How they work: Fibrous vegetables, such as celery and cucumbers, boost your mouth's saliva

The best ways to treat 10 of the season's worst offenders. By Adam Bluestein

Perspiration
Fast fix: If you're sweating bullets, dry your armpits with paper towels. It's not glamorous, but it will prevent overwetting and damage to the fabric.

Home remedy: Treat perspiration marks with a prewash stain remover, then launder the clothes in the hottest water recommended for the fabric, using an enzyme detergent and an oxygen bleach.

See More: Clever Organizing Solutions for Your Home

Grass
Fast fix: Not required.
Home remedy: Apply a pretreatment product, such as Spray 'n Wash or OxiClean. Let the mixture soak in, then scrub lightly with an old toothbrush. Launder using a detergent with enzymes, such as Wisk or Tide. (Enzymes help break up protein stains, like grass, making them easier to remove.) If the stain persists, wash again with an oxygen bleach for colors or a chlorine bleach for whites.

Watch: How To: Remove a Grass StainIce Cream

Fast fix: Apply

Don't Miss:
10 Organic Foods That Are Worth the Money
Food Labels Decoded
The Best Insulated Mugs

You would be happy to inherit your mom's wit, but not her health problems. Learn which genetic risks you face and how to protect your health. By Stacey Colino

Like Mother, Like Daughter?
Smart habits (a nutritious diet, regular exercise… you know the drill) can reduce or even eliminate your risk of developing many illnesses that may run in your family. "No matter your genetic profile, the lifestyle choices you make can trump heredity," says Lawrence Cheskin, an internist at the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, in Baltimore. Here's what experts have to say about how your mother's health influences yours when it comes to common conditions and experiences.

See More: How to Keep Weight Off

Arthritis
Both rheumatoid arthritis (RA, an autoimmune disease) and osteo-arthritis (OA, an inflammatory disease related to wear and tear of the joints) have an inherited potential, "but we don't know to what extent," says Patience White, a rheumatologist in Washington,

When it comes to making eco-friendly changes these are the little ones that really add up to make a difference from the experts at Practically Green. By Alexandra Zissu of practicallygreen.com

Swap Household Cleaners

Switching to green cleaners reduces air pollution both indoors and out, minimizing exposure to both asthma and allergy triggers as well as chemicals that can be harmful to your health. Look for plant-based products from companies that have a complete list of ingredients on their labels.

See More: New Uses for Recyclable Items

Go Meatless on Mondays

Having pasta or a vegetarian soup on Mondays might not seem like a big deal, but adding one meat-free meal per week (for a family of four) has the same impact as driving a hybrid car. Raising livestock produces a large amount of greenhouse gases, so cutting back, even one night per week, makes a big difference.

Shop for Sustainably-Raised Meat

While sustainable isn't a term certified by the USDA like

Check, credit card, or American Express points-which is best?

Weigh Your Options

It's more than a little annoying that everyone around you is talking about how to spend a tax refund check, since you actually owe Uncle Sam a little money. On top of the fact that you have to pay out, you're also faced with the nuisance of deciding how. There are more options than ever to pay your taxes, and they all have their pros and cons. We've laid them out for you.

See More: 11 Money Etiquette Issues

Use a Check
Pros: The old-fashioned way gets your taxes paid and out of the way in one easy shot.
Cons: If you were really caught off guard by your tax bill, paying it outright could deplete your cash reserve. So long, summer vacation…

Use A Debit Card
Pros: The same as paying by check, but with the possibility of at least earning points for this nuisance bill (if your card offers them).
Cons: The IRS hires outside firms to process these payments and they charge a fee

Easy tips and foolproof strategies for making your home sparkle-fast. By Natalie Ermann Russell

See More: Favorite Time Saving Tips

Is there really a way around spending hours and hours on a massive seasonal spruce-up? Sure. Here are quick but thorough strategies and tested cleaning tips for carpets, windows, mattresses, and more that fit your schedule, meet your standards, and give you that let-the-sunshine-in sense of renewal. And for those who clean for the fun of it-instructions for how to go deeper on each.

Carpeting and Rugs: Shortcut
Target needy areas-high-traffic zones and stains that have been bugging you forever. Give the rest a quick (but still substantial) once-over.

Tools:

• Vacuum
• Cotton cloths
• LA's Totally Awesome concentrated cleaner and degreaser-great on carpet stains ($3, amazon.com)
• Hair dryer

Steps for Wall-to-Wall and Area Rugs:

1. Scope the joint and determine which areas need the most care (near entryways, where people

How to get rid of uninvited guests who've decided to make themselves at home.

Uninvited Guest: Mouse
Habitat: Thrives just about everywhere.

Annoying habits: Gnaws through drywall, nibbles on wiring, and pops out of mouse holes, alarming fauna of the Homo sapiens kind.

What you need to know: Can climb, jump, swim, squeeze through dime-size openings, and live on crumbs. Mainly nocturnal. Scoots around the edges of a room, using its whiskers to steer. Sexually matures at 6 to 10 weeks, bearing a litter about 20 days after mating. You do the math.

What you need to do: Sprinkle baby powder on the floor to track your prey. Plug any hole bigger than a quarter of an inch with steel wool or hardware cloth (available at hardware stores). Make sure there's no space under doors. Buy a cat.

If that doesn't work: Set snap traps with a smear of peanut butter or Nutella. Terminix, the pest-control company, recommends traps with extra-wide triggers (available at hardware