Prepaid cards make online shopping much safer

Dear Heloise: I prefer not to use my personal credit card when making donations or purchases online. Instead, I purchase a prepaid gift credit card from my bank in an amount to cover the cost. When making an online donation or purchase, I enter the number, security number on the back and gift recipient as the card name shown on the front.

It works just like a personal credit card, but without the risk of identity theft. And I don’t see any bills in the mail after the purchase. Sue, via e-mail

Sue, that’s brilliant, and a good consumer-safety hint that I’m pleased to pass along. Heloise

Dear Heloise: I copied your “handle kitchen fires with extreme care” article and double-spaced it with a large font size on paper to fit inside a quart-size, clear freezer bag. I cut the note in half with Page 1 and Page 2 each facing the outside of the bag. Then the bag was pinned on the kitchen bulletin board as a reminder and fast reference. I sent another note in a bag to my daughter-in-law for her bulletin board. A Reader, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: My friend lost her cell phone at a tourist attraction. My sister-in-law suggested that I send a text message to my friend’s phone, saying, “If found, call (my cell phone number).” It worked like a charm. Within 10 minutes, we received a call saying the phone had been found, and we arranged to pick it up. The text message enabled the finder to know immediately whom to contact. Nancy, via e-mail

Nancy, good hint. You also can call your phone, and hopefully the person who found it will answer. Usually people try to go through the contacts to find the owner or randomly call a contact to try to locate the owner.

Your friend was fortunate that the phone was found by an honest person. Heloise

Dear Heloise: My husband takes multiple medications, so I found I had to devise a method of keeping track of which pill to take when.

I bought a seven-day pillbox. One day a week, I fill the boxes and label the bottle lids for the a.m. with a red marker and the first letter of the name of the prescription. Then p.m. pills are labeled in green. After all pill boxes are filled, I check the amount of pills remaining. If it’s less than seven, I leave the bottle out until I renew the prescription. Natasha of New Jersey

Dear Heloise: Rather than waiting for our death to let our children inherit family heirlooms, we give each of them one of these treasures on that person’s birthday and at Christmas. This way, we can enjoy seeing them get the item, and it helps cut down on the amount of “stuff” that has to be divided among the family after we are gone. Joan E., via e-mail

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