HELOISE: Cutting college shopping expenses

Dear Heloise: I have a couple of ways to cut down on college shopping expenses. Towels are expensive, and the more comfortable they are, the higher in price they are. Well, my mom and I discovered beach towels. They are bigger, just as soft and cheaper when on sale. If you get those as your big towels, you can find reasonably priced accent colored towels and spend far less. Also, they look great and are fun.

The other huge cost is sheets and a comforter. Many places have sales on extra-long twin bedsheets. Instead of a comforter, get one or two fleece blankets. They pack smaller, and your nighttime temperature will be easier to control with blankets than with one thick comforter.

R.J.L. in Colorado

An A+ for cost-saving college hints. Any others from my readers? Please send yours to Heloise@Heloise.com, or mail to P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000.

Heloise

Dear Readers: Here are some uses for empty, decorative glass bottles:

Use to root plants in water, such as ivy.

Use as a gift vase for flowers.

Make herb-infused vinegar or salad dressing in one.

Fill with water and use to water small plants.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: My husband was a professor, and books are often borrowed and loaned among the faculty and students. My husband put a strip of colored gummed tape at the bottom of his books, parallel to the bottom of the cover. When a borrower put a book on his bookcase, the colored tape was a reminder to get that book back to its owner. It worked!

Ann from Connecticut

Dear Heloise: Whenever I get my hair cut, especially with a new stylist, I bring a couple of pictures of what I want as well as pictures of what I don’t want. I write “NO” in a black marker on the haircuts I don’t want.

Rachel Fernandez, Baton Rouge, La.

Dear Heloise: I just read the article on credit-card charges. I do a much easier thing. I save my receipts and have a file for each credit card with an envelope clipped to the folder. I keep receipts in the envelope until I receive my statement and have proof of the charges.

Marcia, Barnegat, N.J.

Dear Heloise: Why do servers ask that so-very-dreaded question when paying with cash, “Do you need any change?” It is so annoying, as they should automatically bring the change back, then the “tip” decision is made — unless, of course, a customer says to keep the change. I was having lunch with girlfriends, and our server asked my friend. Our server didn’t open the leather folder with the bill of $13, and he asked her if she needed any change. She had put a hundred-dollar bill in it!

Harriet in Texas

King Features Syndicate