Use vinegar to remove tea stains from cups and pots
Dear Heloise: I make tea every morning using a pot, and it creates a residue on the pot and in the cup. So, I recycled a spray bottle, filled it with vinegar and sprayed my cup and pot a couple of times. The gunk wiped out easily, and with a quick rinse, both were clean again. Pat McChesney, Madison, Ala.
Pat, I love tea (hot or cold), but it can stain the pot and cups if allowed to set. I’m sure that spray bottle filled with vinegar will come in handy for a lot of other cleaning jobs. Try spraying it on terra-cotta pots, then scrub to remove the white rings of salt buildup, or on chrome bathroom fixtures to remove soap and hard-water deposits.
In the laundry room, use vinegar to remove fresh deodorant stains by rubbing it into the stain, letting it sit five minutes, then laundering as usual. I can’t possibly list all of the cleaning and beauty hints using vinegar in my column, so I’ve gathered them together in a six-page pamphlet that you can have by sending $4 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (58 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Vinegar, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Visit www.Heloise.com for more information, too. FYI: If a decanter or flower vase needs a good cleaning and it has a narrow neck you can’t get a scrub brush in, pour in some hot vinegar and add a tablespoon of raw rice. Shake it like crazy, then let sit, and this should take away hard-water stains. Heloise.
Dear Heloise: We all receive items in the mail from charitable organizations that we might not use or want. Here are some ideas for the stuff I receive:
UGreeting-card fronts are given to a nursing home, where they are used for craft projects.
UPocket calendars are given to patients in assisted-living and nursing homes.
UNote pads, pens and pencils go to nursing homes and are used by the activity staff or are given to patients.
UAlmost any unwanted item received in the mail or provided by stores or other sources as a “freebie” can be donated to a nursing home. Hazel A. Garland, Edgewater, Md.
Dear Heloise: Here’s an idea a cosmetics-counter worker once told me: Cut the bottom of the cosmetics tube off and then use a small spatula to put the rest of the product into a small plastic container with a snap-on lid. I do this every time I get down to the end of the tube and now use every bit of it! Liz Russell, Spokane, Wash.
Sound off
Dear Heloise: My pet peeve is radio commercials that have sounds of emergency vehicles. If you’re not paying close attention to the radio, you can’t tell if there is an actual emergency vehicle to react to, or if it’s just a radio sound. Linda Shirk, Bellevue, Neb.
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