Postage stamps, grocery bags also can help food banks

Dear Heloise: I read your column in The (Northwest Indiana) Times newspaper. Food-pantry charities always need food and nonfood donations, but they also have to put those donations in something for the clients to take home. Call the food pantry to make sure, but they probably can use plastic and paper grocery-store bags.

Some food pantries accept fresh food, the overabundance of people’s gardens. Anyone who plants cucumbers or zucchini knows how prolific these plants can be.

Contribute plain envelopes and postage stamps to the food pantry to use for correspondence. Carolyn J. Moore, Valparaiso, Ind.

Carolyn, food-pantry charities provide a lifeline to many in need, and most of them are seeing a drop-off of donations and an increase in use because of the economy. Folks, anything you can spare will be put to good use.

Pick up an extra can of food or box of cereal when you shop, and it won’t make a big dent in your budget but will help others. Heloise

Dear Readers: With vacation time right around the corner, here are some things to remember to do before you leave to help make your trip worry-free:

•Put a hold on the mail and newspapers.

•Mow the grass.

•Turn the water off to the washer.

•Ask a trusted neighbor to watch your home.

•Leave a phone number where you can be reached in case of emergency with a neighbor or relative.

Sally, Little Rock, Ark.

Dear Heloise: I saw in your column a letter from a reader who was a volunteer firefighter/ambulance driver. He wrote about the importance of having clear, identifiable house numbers to assist emergency personnel in finding one’s house in a hurry. I would like to add that it is important for those of us with alleys to have our house numbers posted on our gates or fences in the alley for the same reason. George E. Milkowski, Chicago

Dear Heloise: Here’s a great solution for removing bandages. My youngest child would keep them on to avoid the pain of pulling them off. I soaked the adhesive parts in lotion, gently cut the pad off and then removed the two remaining adhesive sections. The lotion has oils that helped remove the adhesive. Nancy Goddard, via e-mail

Baby or olive oil works, too. Heloise

Dear Heloise: I keep a container of cotton swabs near my sink to clean areas under the lips of plastic containers that are hard to reach with a dishcloth or don’t always get clean in the dishwasher. Joyce Rothmann, Boynton Beach, Fla.

Sound Off

Dear Heloise: I bought a package of queen-size sheets and failed to read on the label that it included standard-size pillowcases, not queen-size.

Did you ever try to put a queen-size pillow in a standard-size pillowcase? These sheets were not cheap, either! Why are they doing this? Queen-size sheets should not have standard-size cases! Dorothy Jones, Youngstown, Ohio

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