HELOISE: Reader shares several hints

Dear Heloise: I have several hints to share with you:

Instead of trying to stick a toothpick into cakes to test for doneness, I started using a bamboo skewer stick instead. Less likely to get burned.

I have kept plastic lids from soaps, spray cans and other materials. Wash them and use them as small biscuit or pastry cutters.

If I have items with raised numbers (like measuring cups) that are the same color as the cups and hard to see, I paint over the numbers with fingernail polish.

When calling family or friends who require long-distance calls, if I think of something that I really want to tell them the next time I call, I write it on a small sticky note and put it in the phone book where their address and phone number are listed. If you are sending an e-mail, stick it on the side of your computer cabinet.

Treva Easterling, Fort Pierce, Fla.

Dear Heloise: I use baking soda to clean. I put some in a clean yogurt container. I sprinkle a little soda onto a green scrubbie and scrub away on my oven shelves. They come clean in no time.

A Reader, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: Large candles in jars are very hard to light when they have burned down. If you don’t have a long, trigger-style lighter, light the end of a piece of spaghetti. This works like a charm, and your fingers don’t get burned or full of soot!

Barbara Corcoran, Cromwell, Conn.

Hi, Heloise: I just had to share a tip I discovered about how to keep my necklace from getting caught in my hair. It always bothers me when I have to take the necklace off -- I inevitably have to pull or break my hair to remove it. I had an “aha!” moment today and thought I could cover the clasp with tape. I just wrapped the clasp with regular transparent tape, and voil °, my hair was snag-free. Hope some find it useful. Cheers!

Kristen in Northern Virginia

Dear Heloise: I read the hint about using a straw to get cranberry sauce from the can. I remember my mother opening the can at both ends with the can opener and pushing the cranberry sauce out from one end.

Barbara, Texarkana, Texas

King Features Syndicate