Here's an easy way to discontinue unwanted mail

Dear Heloise: In response to the Sound Off about receiving too many mail-order catalogs and duplicate catalogs, please remind your readers that they can simply call the catalog's customer-service department's 800 number and request that the catalogs be discontinued (or reduced to only one copy).
This technique also works for any unwanted mail, including donation requests from charities and other nonprofit organizations. After donating to a charity, I don't want that money spent on additional direct-mail appeals to me. Once a year is enough!
You can also donate the catalogs to hospitals and clinics (please call and ask if they are receptive. -- Heloise), just like you donate magazines. Just be sure to remove the order form and any other personal ID info. Gee in Eden Prairie, Minn.
If you are persistent, the catalogs will stop! Persist, persist and don't give up, and they will stop one day. Heloise
Fast facts
Dear Heloise: I save peanut-butter jars. They are plastic, nonbreakable and see-through.
I use them in the garage for hard-to-find items: nails, screws, small light bulbs.
I use them with my Christmas decorations. They are good to hold the hooks for decorations and other small items.
The lids can be attached to the bottom of a shelf, and then the jars can be screwed into them.
They come in several sizes, too! Phil H., Ripley, W.Va.
Dear Heloise: I recently bought one of those heavy-duty, dark, nonstick baking pans. It says not to use anything metal or sharp on the inside to avoid scratching. I made a batch of brownies in it. After cooling completely, I got a plastic (disposable) knife and cut the brownies with it. Worked like a charm, and no scratches! Jill Russell, Alexandria, Va.
Dear Heloise: First of all, I read your column daily and enjoy it so much. Thank you. Now my hint: I cut some of the funnies out of the newspaper and put them in a 4-by-6-inch photo album to give to my friends to perk them up, or I send them as a get-well card. It gives the recipients a good chuckle, and I enjoy finding the best ones to send. Lucy Burns, Mission Viejo, Calif.
Dear Heloise: Here is a useful job for those unsolicited fake credit cards that arrive by mail: Use them as pot scrapers. They are great at removing cooked-on food, especially after soaking the pan with water. J.L., Port Hueneme, Calif.
Sound off
Dear Heloise: My sound off? Why in the world do the manufacturers of women's slacks put pockets on the rear? Maybe if one is a size 2 you can get away with that extra baggage back there. I have never seen a woman carry anything in one of those pockets. Fortunately, I can still find slacks without those pockets, but it isn't easy. Anita Gaede, Hudson, Wis.
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