Thursday, November 18, 2010
Dear Heloise: For years, I have been reusing my empty liquid clothes detergents with spouts. After all of the detergent is gone, I refill the container with water. It is then ready to take hunting, fishing, camping or on picnics as a ready-made wash station. There is usually enough detergent left to wash hands after fishing or before meals. I even wash the dishes with it. The water, if left in a sunny spot, is quite warm and suds up quickly. I hang a roll of paper towels and a trash bag on an old wire clothes hanger next to the wash water.
These also can be left in the garden shed or garage to keep the big messes out of the house after potting plants or car repairs. Thanks for a great column.
Doug Doane, Aztec, N.M.
Three hints in one: recycle, repurpose and reuse. Plus, using it for family-friendly activities such as camping and fishing gets you a Heloise Hug.
Heloise
Dear Heloise: When you put on your face cream, be sure to rub your elbows before washing your hands — that little step will go a long way to smoothing the elbows.
Adela in West Virginia
Dear Heloise: I left a pot of spaghetti boiling once and remembered it later. When I got home, I turned on the fans, opened all the widows and aired it out. The odor didn’t go away until I heard about this: Fill many coffee cups half full of ammonia. Place them in all the cupboards, windowsills and anywhere else. Within two days, all the smoke smell was gone!
A.H. in Utah
This is an old-fashioned hint that may help remove smoke odors, but please don’t use ammonia if you have small children and pets — it’s extremely dangerous if ingested, inhaled or comes in contact with skin. Another alternative: Use bowls of household vinegar to help remove the smoke smell. Don’t forget to turn on the exhaust fan in the kitchen! And the low-tech hint? As you said, open doors and windows.
Heloise
Dear Heloise: I have a beautiful vinyl tablecloth that looks like lace. Because it gets heavy daily use with our large family, it was badly stained, and there was dirt that just wouldn’t wash away. The solution? I filled my freshly scrubbed tub with hot water, poured in some dishwasher soap and put the tablecloth in to soak for about an hour. When I was done, I just rinsed and air-dried it. Now it looks brand new!
Kari Windon in Ohio
Dear Heloise: A helpful hint I use frequently is cotton swabs to clean in hard-to-reach places, like around sink drains, inside the metal tracks on windows, inside the washing machine’s softener or bleach opening, etc. It is a reasonably inexpensive item, and saves a lot of broken fingernails and cut fingers.
Vera Jezek in Pekin, Ill.
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