Theater group appreciates donation of old furs, clothes

Dear Heloise: When my husband’s 96-year-old grandmother passed away a few years ago, she had two minks, a fox coat and a few interesting dressy but out-of-date items of clothing. We took them to a college theater group — the people there know how to “feed and care for” furs and use them in productions. They were most grateful. Donna, Seal Beach, Calif.

Check with high-school, college and even city theater groups to see if they would be interested in your clothing. Heloise

Dear Heloise: Here is how I use socks that are worn out in the heel or toe: Slip one around a frozen water bottle or cold drink can or use as a dust or cleaning cloth. Connie Mason, via e-mail

And here are others from Heloise Central: great for shoe polishing, use as shoe bags when traveling, and great miniblind cleaner. Heloise

Dear Heloise: I clip coupons for everything. To be sure I don’t forget my coupons, I keep them in the door pocket of my car. I put grocery coupons in one of those small accordion files. I put coupons for restaurants, stores, car wash, dry cleaning, etc., in quart-size zipper bags. Patricia Wagner, Corona, Calif.

Dear Heloise: My mother’s queen-size mattress is too heavy for her to lift and stretch the fitted sheet over. We bought an egg-crate foam mattress topper. I placed an extra-pretty but inexpensive bottom sheet over the original mattress to cover it. She changes her weekly sheets by stretching the bottom sheet only over the foam topper. She uses quilt safety pins to attach the top sheet and blanket to the pretty sheet covering the mattress. No more heavy lifting and stretching! As a bonus, she gets to use her old sheets made for thinner mattresses! Jean in Arkansas

Dear Heloise: When you need a bit of butter and it is hard from refrigeration, take your vegetable peeler and peel a long, thin slice from the top of the butter stick. Anastasia, San Antonio

Dear Heloise: I got tired of picking up blouses from the closet floor because they fell off the hanger. So, I use strips of nylon net to keep the blouses from slipping off. You poke a hole in the center top to slip the nylon net over the hook of the hanger. This works especially well for silky blouses and those with spaghetti straps. Virginia Johnson, via e-mail

Sound Off

Dear Heloise: I find it very annoying to go a store on the day of a sale for a specific item and find that it is already out of stock. I don’t want a rain check — I want the item! A store shouldn’t offer it for sale unless there is enough stock on hand! Kelly, Karnes City, Texas

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