Hint for listing phone numbers is time-saver

Dear Heloise: To save time looking up doctors’ phone numbers, I took one of the pages under “D” in my address/phone book and wrote “Doctors” at the top and listed them all on that one page, instead of under their names.

It works so well that I made a page under “H” that I called “House” and listed the plumber, electrician, yard service, etc., on that page.

I started this when I had a new doctor with a difficult name that I could not remember. Sara Lemon, Baton Rouge, La.

It is hard to remember some names, especially when we tend to think of those people as their occupation! A good hint indeed. Heloise

Dear Readers: Here are some handy uses for duct tape:

U Keep in the car trunk’s emergency kit for quick repairs.

U Use to remove splinters and cactus thorns.

U Use to temporarily hem a pair of pants.

U Make the bottom of backpacks sturdier by lining with duct tape.

U Use to make handles on brooms, mops, etc., last longer.

U Use to remove lint and pet hair from furniture and clothing.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I read your column in The Arizona Republic and think the greatest use of address labels was missed.

While working for the National Park Service, I was amazed by the amount of cameras (especially one-time use) and cell phones that were turned in daily, with no way to know who they belonged to.

If the item had a return-address label, we returned it. We have thousands of those labels — why not use some? Dan Merritt, Peoria, Ariz.

Dan, how right you are! There are probably tens of thousands of lost cameras and cell phones all over the country. Heloise

Dear Heloise: Label the light switch that controls an outside light. If you can’t see the bulb, you might forget to turn it off. This is helpful for identifying controls in multiswitch devices. Ellen Dieterich, Laguna Niguel, Calif.

Dear Heloise: When I go to a store, I check the parking lot for carts and always use one of those. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone picked a cart out in the lot to use, rather than getting one from the rack inside? A cart is a cart, but this practice would keep the parking spaces free and help store personnel. Instead of spending their time retrieving carts from the parking lot, they could be helping customers inside the store. Susan Myers, Jacksonville, Fla.

Dear Heloise: Recently, my mother (a widow) and I were talking about fixing hamburgers, and she put into words something I’ve thought many times.

Why do bread manufacturers package buns only in eight-packs? If you are a single person or a couple, eight buns are too many, and if you freeze them, they are dry and crumbly when you go to use them again. Donna in Vidor, Texas

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