HELOISE It pays to know high-school chemistry

Dear Heloise: A gentleman asked you for your recipe for window cleaner, and he mentioned one containing both ammonia and vinegar. You said it wasn't your recipe, and you're right. It's one that got reprinted every few years in another column, and it did mix vinegar and ammonia. I guess someone figured that if ammonia cleans windows and vinegar cleans windows, why not try them all together? As I explain to my chemistry students every year, all you'd get is salt water -- they neutralize each other.
This year, when I teach my students acid base chemistry, I'll tell them there's one advice columnist who knows her high-school chemistry. Keep up the good work. Steve Rezendes, chemistry teacher, West Potomac High School, Fairfax, Va.
Dear Steve: Thank you for the very kind words, and since I took physics instead of chemistry, it really means a lot to me! It was nice chatting with you recently, and I look forward to getting hints from your students. Many of the "old" recipes that are floating around out there might work, and many do not. This is why we have the Heloise Update in this column. It's always best to check it out, and recheck it, too. Vinegar is my all-time favorite household cleaner and deodorizer! To wash windows, just add 1/2 to 1 cup white or apple-cider vinegar to 1/2 gallon of water. Spray windows liberally and wipe dry. That's all there is to it. For more money-saving ways to use vinegar around the house, send for my six-page vinegar pamphlet. To receive a copy, please send $4 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (60 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Vinegar, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5001. And remember, when drying windows, dry the outside horizontally and the inside vertically. This way, if there is a streak, you can tell if it's on the inside or the outside of the glass. Heloise
P.S. Here's a quote about this subject from one of my mother's books, "Heloise All Around the House" (1965): "... after washing (cloth diapers), a rinsing in vinegar and water solution can't be beat ... vinegar neutralizes the ammonia in diapers."
Dear Heloise: I have a great idea for how to carry a digital camera in your purse without it getting damaged. Whenever I take my camera out somewhere and the camera case is too big to fit in my purse, I put the camera in an old sock so that the screen is protected. Who would have thought? Natasha Harden, via e-mail
Yup, it works well. A zip-top plastic bag will do the trick also, and it's waterproof, too. Heloise
Dear Heloise: I lived in a foreign country for a couple of years and took what I hoped would be neat photos. The rolls of film were lost in the process of having them developed, and I was devastated. So now, I put a name/address label on each roll of film to help identify the rolls when I take them in for developing. I hope to prevent such a loss again! M. Ervin, Woodbury, Minn.
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.
King Features Syndicate