Use extreme care when cleaning those old electric blankets

Dear Heloise: I recently bought a couple of electric blankets from a garage sale, and I was wondering about the best way to clean them. Can they be dry-cleaned, or can they be washed at home? Help! Bonnie Sue from Oklahoma
Garage sales are a great way to pick up household goods for just a few dollars. But you need to know about the item. If the blankets don't have care labels, you really shouldn't have them dry-cleaned, because the dry-cleaning solvent can sometimes dissolve the plastic covering over the wires inside the blanket. And you won't know that this has happened until you plug in the blanket, which could cause a fuse to short-circuit, or even cause a fire!
So, it's best to wash the blankets in a front-loader washing machine (not one with an agitator in the middle) and use regular laundry detergent. Hang to dry -- do not put in the dryer.
Sometimes electric blankets are dry-cleanable, but the care label needs to specify that cleaning method. Heloise
P.S. For safety's sake, you are probably better off buying a new electric blanket and using these for something else.
Here are two hints from Sandy Driskell of Indianapolis:
UWe have those wonderful trash cans on wheels, and we line them with plastic bags. On trash-day eve, we roll the cans to the curb, pull the bags out and tie them up, leave them at the curb and roll the cans back to the garage. This way, the cans are not left to roll out into the street after the trash workers are finished with them.
UI keep an old canister-type vacuum cleaner in the garage. I use it to sweep the garage, as the wand will clean right up against the wall and in corners so that I don't have to pull everything out and sweep with a broom. This system is much easier on my back than using a broom.
This same vacuum cleaner reverses its action to blow. My husband uses it to blow the grass off the lawn mower after use, instead of using a whisk broom. My son uses his leaf blower for the same job.
Dear Heloise: A few years ago, I sent you a hint about using vinegar to rinse your hands after peeling shrimp, etc. Well, I don't do that anymore! I now wear exam gloves for everything. They're great for making meatloaf and burgers, peeling and cleaning seafood, throwing out the unknowns from the back of the refrigerator, working in the garden (I won't pick tomatoes or okra without them!), cleaning bathrooms -- I mean everything! Laura from Arkansas
Dear Heloise: My weight tends to fluctuate, so I took a laundry marker and marked in the inside belt line the maximum weight I can be to wear a particular pair of jeans. This saves time and keeps me from putting on slacks that don't fit. Nancy in New Jersey
XSend a great hint to: Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000, Fax: (210) HELOISE or E-mail: Heloise@Heloise.com.
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