HELOISE Protect credit-card when paying bills

Dear Heloise: When you are writing checks to pay your credit-card accounts, do not put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit-card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check-processing channels won't have access to it. Jan, Via E-mail
Dear Heloise: I read where you talked about carrying medication information in your wallet. I've been doing this for several years and would like to elaborate on this suggestion.
I use my computer to adjust the font and size of the print. I type out my medications, and then to the right of them I type out my wife's medications. Then, when I cut them out, I can fold the paper in half lengthwise and have the information for both of our medications in my wallet. I can easily make a duplicate for my wife to carry. This takes a little time at first to get it set up, but the medical personnel nearly always comment on how handy it is. And they don't have to read my handwriting! S. Robert Collins, Via E-mail
Dear Heloise: Do your pants, shorts or skirts stretch out in the waist after wearing them for a while? I have a quick fix. While wearing the loose-waisted garment, use the buttonhole to measure where you need to sew on another button to tighten up the waist again.
A metal button with a loop on the back that fits through the buttonhole works best. This extra button also works if, after washing, the garment is too tight in the waist.
Use the metal button as a replacement if the stud-type buttons they use on many jean-type garments get pulled out. Jeannie Boone, San Diego
Dear Heloise: I use address labels for so many things, but the best recently is placing a label on my husband's cane. He lost two canes when they were left in grocery-shopping carts -- but with address labels now, we get a call when he leaves his cane. Mrs. Eva Grevsky, Houston
Dear Heloise: I often wonder if women realize how much lotion remains in an "empty" plastic container. I keep cosmetic jars, 3- to 4-ounce size, and let bottles drain into them, propped on my dressing table. It's surprising how much lotion you can save. Roberta Lisinski, Roseville, Calif.
Dear Heloise: When baking cookies with my children, I always freeze half a dozen. Then when someone drops by for coffee, I have a few kinds of cookies in the freezer to put out on a tray. They thaw very quickly. I do the same with cupcakes and muffins, too. (These might need to sit on the counter for a bit longer.) Jennifer Jedrych, Stafford, Va.
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