Hints From Heloise

Pitchers and Mitts

Dear Heloise: I have read your column in our local paper (Sacramento, Calif.) for many years and also read the great hints on your Web site, www.Heloise.com. I have a couple of hints on USING INEXPENSIVE ITEMS, and I wanted to share them:

Plastic pitchers with lids store all kinds of food for the refrigerator and for the ice chest when camping. I use them for soups, stew and all leftovers needing a larger storage space.

I use inexpensive oven mitts to wipe down furniture and remove pet hair -- just moisten them slightly, and they pick up all the hair, visible or not (and I don't have to get out my vacuum cleaner)!

In the stationery section of most discount stores, they sell metal clips with the fold-down pinchers. I keep a bowl of these handy to close packages that are difficult to wrap up after opening. My kids find them in the freezer on vegetable bags or in the pantry securing chips and snack bags.

An attractive way to store extra rolls of toilet paper is an inexpensive paper-towel holder that stands upright. It holds three rolls perfectly and also comes in attractive wood, chrome or wrought-iron designs. I have one in each bathroom, and the kids no longer have an excuse not to change the empty roll!

Hope these hints are useful. -- Barbara Kerrin, Sacramento, Calif.

All good hints that can ease a little stress in the kitchen, while camping or at a picnic. Plus, you'll always have TP close at hand. -- Heloise

NO LOST CHILDREN

Dear Heloise: I recently took my 4- and 6-year-olds to Disneyland and was a bit nervous about the large crowds and the possibility of being separated. Both children are too young to memorize and reliably recall my cell number under stress. So, I used a permanent marker to write my cell number on the underside of the legs of their jeans. It doesn't show at all unless the child flips up the pant leg. Each child knew it was there in case he or she was separated from us, and was instructed to ask a park employee to call me. Gladly, the numbers weren't needed, but I felt better knowing they were there. -- Lisa M., Agoura Hills, Calif.

GREEN HINT

Dear Heloise: If you scrapbook, make cards, sew or do any other kind of craft, small toaster-pastry boxes with the lids removed are great little trash boxes to keep on your tabletop. For sewing, tape it to the side of your work table with the top even with the table, and just swipe the threads right into the box. -- Mitzi Shirley, Spring, Texas

Love it! I use a cube facial-tissue box as my "trash" container when I sew. -- Heloise

HANDY FLASHLIGHT

Dear Heloise: When the power goes out during a storm, stand a flashlight up pointing to the ceiling. It will light up the whole room. -- Gwen Shoemaker, Lakeland, Fla.

Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or you can fax it to 1-210-HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com. I can't answer your letter personally but will use the best hints received in my column.

(c)2009 by King Features Syndicate Inc.