HELOISE: Keeping your garage spotless

Dear Readers: With the daily uses of the garage, the floors can get stained with fluids from vehicles. Here’s how to clean them:

To remove fresh oil stains, first pour 1 cup of baking soda over the spot and let sit for a while. Scrub, scrub, scrub, then rinse and mop dry. Clay-type cat litter can be used to absorb large spills. Pour it on the area and grind it in with your foot. Let it stay on overnight, then sweep up and wash the area with detergent and water.

If the spills are old, try to scrape off all residue with a paint scraper. Then grind in sawdust to absorb any oil. Sweep up after allowing it to sit awhile so that all the liquid is absorbed, then wash stains with detergent and mop dry.

Try to clean the floors in your garage at least once a month to prevent serious staining that will be harder to get off later. You can cover the floor where the car will sit with rubber mats or large aluminum pans, if you know exactly where your vehicle leaks.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I use baking soda to clean my bathroom sinks and tub. I also occasionally use baking soda to brush my teeth.

A few months ago, I was reading the back of the box, which said you can add it to bathwater to soften it, and that a teaspoon added to shampoo will get your hair really clean.

Denise Riebold, Magnolia, Texas

Denise, you’re right — baking soda is fabulous and has a multitude of uses. Did you know that you can sprinkle some baking soda in the clothes hamper to keep odors away? You even can make a baking-soda sachet using a coffee filter filled with baking soda. Staple it shut and toss it in the hamper. Interested in other baking soda uses? I have a six-page Heloise’s Baking Soda Hints and Recipes pamphlet that can be yours by sending $5 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (61 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Baking Soda, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Keep some baking soda in a clean grated-cheese container by the side of sink, and it will be right at hand.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: Here is a great suggestion for visiting and bringing something to a hospital patient. Bring the person earplugs and a face mask! The patient will thank you for a better sleep, as he or she can filter out all the hospital noise and bright lights. I took a set to an elderly friend, and she was thrilled. While I was visiting, I gave her a manicure. She felt pampered, and her nails looked great. That also was a big hit.

Polly in New York

Dear Heloise: Whenever my spouse and I are attending trade shows for work, we both pick up the free cloth bags. We use them at the grocery store. This beats purchasing them.

Steven B., Houston

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