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Hints help you get best use from your dryer

Friday, November 24, 2006


Dear Readers: Aren't clothes dryers wonderful? They make laundry day a lot easier, so here are some helpful hints to get the best use from your dryer and save on your energy bill, too.
Clean the dryer's lint screen after or before each load. This keeps the air flowing through the dryer. Also, a buildup of lint can cause a fire hazard.
Dry full loads. Drying only a couple of things wastes money. But don't overload or stuff the dryer, either, because then it will take longer to dry, and the clothes will be terribly wrinkled.
If you are doing several loads of laundry, empty the dryer and add the next load right away so that the heated dryer is put to optimal use. Dry heavy items first, lighter ones last.
Don't put wet clothes with partially dried items. And remove items as soon as they're dried to prevent wrinkling.
Don't run your dryer when you're not home. There are thousands of home fires every year caused by dryers, many when someone left for just a minute! So, you don't want to take a chance. Heloise
Dear Heloise: If you need a room dark in the daytime, try a black, vinyl shower curtain (cut to size as needed) and place it inside the window frame. Attach by using round, metal curtain holders that have two edges that pinch together to hold the curtain. Then put the round, open part through a rod that stretches out to fit inside the window frame. No nails are needed. N.M., Colorado Springs, Colo.
Dear Heloise: I enjoy your daily articles in The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., and read them faithfully. A lot of the hints are things I've always done, but I pick up new ideas, as well.
I don't usually turn to your column for comic relief, but the hint about keeping get-well cards on your mantle so visitors will think you've been too sick to clean had me in giggles! Thanks -- I needed that! Linda Amick, Columbia, S.C.
Well, it does make you smile! Heloise
Dear Heloise: On the second shelf of the refrigerator, where the butters, mustards, cottage cheese and dinner leftovers tend to get shoved to the back, I have placed a cookie sheet that can be slid out for easy access to the contents. It's sanitary, too, for cleanup of spills! A Reader, Spokane, Wash.
Dear Heloise: I thought this hint might help other readers. I use a rubber band to keep my place in a book I am reading. I bring it around the front or back of the book to the page I am on. It leaves no marks -- works great for kids' books, too. Debby in Texas
Send 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