HELOISE: Service ended up costing monthly

Dear Heloise: I signed up to use a service to find someone’s phone number based on the person’s address. I entered my credit-card information, but understood that the charge was to be 95 cents. Little did I understand that I was using the membership for a trial period of one week. The monthly cost of the service is $24.95, a fact I realized when I saw the charge on my credit-card statement! The company refused to refund that additional $24. I spoke to my credit-card company, and it has to research the matter.

A Reader, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: I never use the cents column of my checkbook. Rounding up to the nearest dollar on checks and rounding down on deposits makes calculating much simpler. When I receive my statement, generally there’s an extra $10 to credit.

Richard in Florida

Richard, many people do this because it makes the math easier and there is a little cushion moneywise in the checking account.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: If you lose electricity or need to reset your home clocks, carry your cell phone with you from clock to clock, because it always has the right time displayed. Thanks for making running a house much easier.

Wynn in Huntsville, Ala.

Dear Heloise: I recently removed the odor from my slide sandals by spritzing the inside soles with a little water and then spreading baking soda on the area. I let them stand overnight and then removed the baking soda. It worked. Thought you might like to share.

Kaysie, Seguin, Texas

Dear Heloise: I read your tips on uses for clothespins, and I have one I have yet to see.

I am a licensed child-care provider and have some kids who can go to the bathroom by themselves. I thumbtacked a piece of cord about an inch above the corner of the bathroom door jam so it hangs down below the jam about an inch. I clip a clothespin to the piece that hangs down so it prevents the kids from closing the door all the way, thus preventing them from being able to lock the door.

Viv, Yorba Linda, Calif.

A good safety hint! You also can hang a face or bath towel over the door to prevent the door from closing fully.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: Here is my hint: When putting together weekly medicines or when opening any pill container, open the bottle over a soft surface rather than a hard one.

If you should drop any pills, they will hit the soft surface and will stay put rather than hitting a hard surface and bouncing somewhere, which, for me, results in having to crawl around on the floor looking for the runaway pill(s).

Al in Troy, Ohio

Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, fax it to 210-HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate