Tips keep chemicals out of home
Dear Heloise: Here are my favorite hints to reduce use of household chemicals:
• Kill weeds by spraying vinegar instead of pesticides. (I learned this from your column.)
• Clean windows, bathroom fixtures and furniture using reusable microfiber cleaning cloths, which need little or no cleaners.
• To clean fruit and vegetables before eating, spray with a mixture of water and vinegar (3-to-1 ratio of water to vinegar).
• Use squeegees and a tiny amount of window-cleaning concentrate to get windows sparkling and amazingly streak-free.
Patrice, Manitou Springs, Colo.
Patrice, thanks for sending in your favorite green hints! Cheap, wonderful vinegar can be used in every room of the house, from bath to bedroom! Want to learn how to save money using vinegar instead of chemicals? Please send $5 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (59 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Vinegar, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Hint: After mopping a “no-wax” floor, add a couple of capfuls of vinegar to fresh water to help remove any soap film and leave the floor clean and shiny. Heloise
Dear Heloise: I enjoy your daily column in the Ventura County (Calif.) Star. Recently, you asked for beading hints, and here are mine:
• An old tackle or nuts-and-bolts box makes a great bead box. You can also find compartmentalized plastic boxes with hinged lids in stores that sell stuff for a dollar.
• When a beading friend has a birthday, I get a plastic bead box or two and sew a quick tote to put them in. It may be simple, but it is greatly appreciated.
• Have you seen those expensive flocked bead boards, where you can lay out all your beads? Make one at home by using a plastic lid from a whipped-topping container. Lay it upside down on the table. Mark around the edge at 5-, 6-, 7- and 8-inch lengths for bracelets. Line your beads up in the little well that runs just inside the edge. Take them out in order, one by one, to string them. You can use a lid from a larger plastic container to make necklaces.
• For working with beads, I love the little softish yogurt lids. I scoop out some of the beads and dump them onto the yogurt lid. Each compartment’s different-colored beads go on a different lid. When I’m done with that color, the whole thing gets picked up and poured back into the compartment — no sorting needed. The yogurt lids are great because they fold up like a soft taco to pour the beads easily.
Janice, via e-mail
Dear Heloise: Another idea for the last little bit of jelly in the jar: I make my salad dressing in that jar, adding oil, vinegar, garlic and herbs. The little bit of jelly adds an interesting touch of fruity sweetness. I got this idea from my son, who wastes nothing. Nance, Fernandina Beach, Fla.
SBlt 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