Thursday, May 26, 2005
Dear Heloise: In a recent column, you featured a hint about the difficulties caused by letting your driver's license lapse. Believe me, your auto insurance is equally important!
We returned to the U.S. after living for an extended period in Mexico. While there, my husband's U.S. driver's license expired. Not anticipating a need to return to the U.S., instead of renewing it he applied for and received a Mexican driver's license. Later, the car we had brought from the U.S. was stolen, so we purchased and insured a car locally. We returned to the U.S., where his lack of a current U.S. driver's license combined with our lack of active U.S.-based auto insurance caused very real problems. We managed to reactivate his driver's license, but were unable to get auto insurance reflecting our lifelong driving and insurance coverage within the U.S. It was as if we had ceased to exist! Only one company would even look at covering us, and it took us three years to re-establish his driving record and our insurance history, and to find a company that would cover us at lower rates. B.J. Stanton, via e-mail
A good warning. Thank you for sharing your story. Heloise
Dear Heloise: When removing a garment from the closet, instead of putting the empty hanger back in the same spot, I put all the empty hangers at the end of the rod. When I need hangers while I'm ironing, they are all in the same place and easy to grab. Rita Sienkowski, via e-mail
Dear Heloise: Your column is very interesting along with giving people helpful hints. When my husband and I were on a camping trip, I used a soapy washcloth instead of a bar of soap for washing. We have a water jug that has two handles; on one I hung the soapy washcloth, and on the other a dry hand towel. Whenever our hands needed washing, we could just wet them under the water spigot of the jug, get our hands soapy by rubbing with the washcloth, then rinse and dry with the hand towel. If the washcloth got too dried out for this procedure, I would just dampen it a bit, and voila -- instant soap for washing. This idea took the mess out of using bar soap. Bonnie Kinzler, New Underwood, S.D.
A bar of soap can be hard to keep up with at a campsite. Here's a hint: Put one in a knee-high stocking and tie it to the jug handle -- handy soap with a little added scrubbing action! Heloise
Dear Heloise: To prevent drips from my car coffee mug when I've finished, I open the mug and place a napkin or tissue in it. No drips! Joy Dean Lee, Orlando, Fla.
XSend a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or you can fax it to (210) HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.
King Features Syndicate