HELOISE Try this remedy if pills form on sweaters

Dear Heloise: My dilemma is pilling on new sweaters. It really bothers me when a new fleecy sweater is washed for the first time and ends up looking like it's been washed a hundred times.
Do you have a remedy to prevent this from happening? L.D., via e-mail
Clothes rubbing against each other usually causes pilling when in the washer and dryer. One thing you can do is turn all your sweaters inside out before washing and drying to prevent or at least minimize pilling. If the pills form, they will be on the inside!
For the pilled sweaters you have, the pills might be removed by stretching out the sweater and brushing it down it from top to bottom with an emery board. Heloise
Fast facts: There are more uses for paper clips than simply clipping papers together. Try these hints:
UUse as a bookmark to keep a page in a magazine or book.
UUse as an ornament hanger for suncatchers on a window.
UUse to hold extra keys attached to your key chain.
UUse as a zipper pull on a jacket if the pull is missing.
ULink some together to form a chain, if needed.
Dear Heloise: My son and husband have recently taken on a newspaper route, and the plastic bags and rubber bands are an added expense for this new job.
We have a few customers who save the bags and rubber bands for us. They just hang them on the doorknob or put them on the porch, and we pick them up when we deliver the paper. It's nice to be able to reuse them. If you are looking for a way to help out, recycle and just plain get rid of those plastic bags and rubber bands, give them to your carriers. J.K.M., Springfield, Ill.
There are so many ways to recycle those plastic bags, and your hint is good. It's great to save newspaper carriers money, too. Some plastic bags might have holes or small tears, so ask your carrier if he or she wants them. Heloise
P.S. A special thanks to our newspaper person, who always throws the paper over the gate so our mini-schnauzer, Cabbie, can get it and bring it into the house.
Dear Readers: A perfect chopping block is a new dustpan. Wash thoroughly, then print with permanent marker on the backside of the dustpan "For foodstuff only," just in case a family member picks it up. It's plastic, so you can chop apples, vegetables, potatoes, etc., and simply take it to the bowl or pot and drop the items right in. Heloise
Sound off: This is what irks me more than anything: people who will not take their pets indoors during very cold weather. Unless a dog has a very warm doghouse, insulated from the cold, it should be in the home or at least in a garage with blankets on the floor. Please, if you own pets, take care of them and make them part of your family -- don't shut them out. Patricia S., via e-mail
XSend a great hint to: Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax: (210) HELOISE; e-mail: Heloise@Heloise.com.
King Features Syndicate