Tips help make home banking easier and more efficient

Dear Heloise: Here are my tips for making home banking easier. I use a spiral notebook instead of the checkbook register. It lasts longer, is much easier to write in, and I keep it in my desk drawer to register my transactions that I check against the online banking service.

I collect my receipts in a magnetic bin on my refrigerator. Once a month or so, I take it to my desk and file the receipts in a plastic expanding check file. I found that it works best to organize the receipts by store (especially since we have a handful that we regularly visit), rather than by generic categories or month. When I need to return something, I look through the receipts from the store. This has saved us tons of time and always impresses my husband.

Even if the receipt is past the normal 90-day return period, I have had stores happy to take returns for items they still carry because I had the original receipt. This is also great assistance at tax time, since it makes going through the receipts quick and easy. Karen Laurie, Falcon, Colo.

Dear Heloise: I read your hints about recycling/reusing last year’s calendar. For years, I have been making my own envelopes for letters and cards. I cut the pretty or cute pictures from old calendars and turn them into an envelope.

Carefully take apart an old envelope, trace around it on heavy card stock and make notes about which side is folded first, where the glue goes, etc. Trace around your template onto the wrong side of your calendar page. You have a very nice envelope for mailing. Your return-address sticker and the postage stamp will stick to glossy paper. For your address sticker, hand print or use your computer to make address labels. If it’s an address you use often, print out several labels to save time. You’ll be surprised at the compliments you get on your own envelopes, and they don’t cost anything except time and a glue stick! Joyce Hoover, Jacksonville, Ark.

Dear Heloise: My idea is for those drivers who have trucks. Have a little respect for those who are in a small vehicle and in front of you. If you’re behind someone in a small vehicle — say, in a drive-through — turn your headlights off so you’re not blinding the person in front of you. The lights reflect off the person’s rearview and side-view mirrors and can affect their vision. A Reader, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: We often buy ground meat in large packages, especially when it’s on sale. My husband divides these packages into smaller quantities. He uses freezer bags and presses each bag flat. This not only gets the air out, but the bags take up less room in the freezer and thaw much faster when needed. Ann Russ, Houston

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