HELOISE: Travel tips can save time, hassle
Dear Readers: With all the traveling I do for speeches and personal appearances, you can bet I have learned some nifty travel hints through the years. So, I’d like to share a few of them that might save you time and aggravation:
Always call ahead to the airline to make sure your flight is on time.
Don’t wait until the morning of your departure to pack!
I use clear cosmetic and zipper bags to organize small things such as health and beauty items. Because they are clear, I easily can see what’s inside.
Let your credit-card company know that you will be traveling, so it will not automatically flag your card for suspicious activity.
Grab some cloth wipes to clean your feet when going through airport security and clean your hands before and after eating.
Heloise
Dear Heloise: When cleaning windows, especially paned windows and doors, use pages from an old phone book to wipe up the moisture and polish them to a shine. The ink print works just like newspaper but is much handier to use in phone-book size.
Dixie Simpson, Springfield, Mo.
A favorite recipe for window washing is to mix 1/4 cup of nonsudsing ammonia with 1 gallon of water. Put in a labeled spray bottle. Newspaper or phone-book pages are great for drying windows because they don’t leave any lint behind. Need more cleaning help? I have the solution with my new Heloise’s Homemade Cleaning Solutions pamphlet. Just send $5 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (61 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Cleaners, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. And when cleaning, remember to NEVER mix ammonia and chlorine bleach. It could be deadly!
Heloise
Dear Heloise: I have carpeting but also like to use area rugs. However, they tend to “walk.” My remedy was to take the loop side of 1-inch self-gripping fabric tape and stick it to the backside of my area rug. Only a 4- or 5-inch strip is needed. Set the rug where you want it, step on the area where you put the tape and it will not move.
That left me with the smooth side of the self-gripping tape, and I hate to waste! So, I tape those pieces to the underside of TVs, microwaves, etc. I can then easily slide them to one side to clean under them. Also, one could adhere them to the backside of furniture to keep it from hitting the wall, or stick small pieces to the bottom corners of pictures so they hang flat against the wall.
Rosalie in Houston
Rosalie, thanks for the hints. The Carpet and Rug Institute understands the purpose of the tape, but it recommends that you check out a uniform weighted pad to go underneath an area rug. Self-gripping tape may, over time, abrade the carpet fibers.
Heloise
King Features Syndicate