HELOISE Pictures provide pattern for repacking in reverse

Dear Heloise: Many times we have purchased some item (usually electronic) that has come packaged in a complicated yet efficient way to get all the parts into the smallest possible space.
After having assembled the item, we sometimes have had to return it. Herein lay the problem -- we couldn't get the parts back into the box correctly, and sometimes we couldn't get all of them back in at all.
My husband used our digital camera to take pictures of the open box with all the parts in place. Then, as we took out layers, he would take another picture until we had all the parts out of the box.
If we have to return an item, we just check the pictures in the camera and repack in reverse! Cynthia Rausch, Capistrano Beach, Calif.
Dear Heloise: Whenever I travel with my family, there never seem to be enough places to hang our bathing suits to dry.
I now carry a package of those suction-cup snap-down hooks. There's one for each family member, and the hooks hardly take up any room in the suitcase. Gale Liebert, Stockbridge, Ga.
Dear Readers: Here are two great hints from Delores McFadden of Fort Worth, Texas:
USince I need glasses to see small items, I mark one side of a polarized appliance plug to determine the correct orientation with the wall outlet. A permanent marker works well.
UI reuse large department-store plastic bags as dust covers for my husband's stationary and bench-top woodworking machines. They are easily replaced when torn. Then they are recycled.
Dear Heloise: Recently, a friend was visiting her son's grave and brought fresh flowers. She needed something to hold the flowers and water, so we used a large coffee can. I took the lid and cut an X in the middle of it, put it on the can and pushed the flowers through the X. It worked wonderfully, and now she keeps an extra can in her trunk. Sandra K., Indianapolis
You can also cover the can with aluminum foil. Note: Please check with the cemetery's regulations before leaving items on a grave site. Heloise
Dear Heloise: When moving, use a broad-tip felt pen and number your boxes on all sides and top. Keep a large pad of paper on a clipboard and write the number of each box with a brief description of what's inside.
No matter what you need, just look it up on your list and go find that numbered box. I don't know why it took me 30 years of moving to finally figure this one out. It not only saves time writing the contents on the box, but finding something specific is almost immediate. Mari Ann Andrieux, Cottage Grove, Ore.
XSend a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000, or you can fax it to (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.
King Features Syndicate