HELOISE: Taking laundry out for a spin

Dear Readers: Here are some helpful Heloise hints for you if you use a public laundry:

Sort the laundry before leaving home. Put white clothes in a white pillowcase, dark clothes in a dark pillowcase, and others in another. You can stick all the pillowcases in a large laundry basket, and you are ready to go.

Don’t forget your detergent. This will save you a lot of money, rather than buying it there. Measuring out the detergent before you go will save you from having to carry the heavy container all the way to the laundry room or location.

Big hint: Shake the wet clothes out before putting them in the dryer (don’t just throw in a lump!), and the clothes will dry faster, which will save you money, and be less wrinkled!

Check the dryers before the time ends, because you may be able to add some extra time, which is cheaper than having to restart the machine.

If you see the lint filter, clean it out before drying your clothes, and always check the washer to be sure there is nothing red in there.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: Many times, athletic socks come in multipacks. I invariably do laundry with only some of the pairs. As time goes by, you have socks in different stages of wear and tear. Spending time trying to “match” the worn ones and the newer ones when folding is a chore.

So, I take a permanent marker and put dots on the underside of the toe when the pack is new. This way, after laundering, all I do is match the number of dots. Saves time and ensures that they wear evenly.

Next hint: We have a large knife “block” in our kitchen, and it has eight identical steak knives on the bottom row. It seems I always grab the one on the outside of the block. To keep them wearing evenly, I routinely rotate them along the row to always keep a different one in that last spot.

Britt Barkley, San Antonio

Dear Heloise: I have a bagless sweeper, and to save a mess, before I sweep each time, I spread a two-page sheet of newspaper in the middle of the floor. I empty my canister in the middle of that. I then roll up the newspaper nice and tight, and throw it in the garbage. If any dust escapes the newspaper, which rarely happens, I just catch it when I am doing my sweeping.

Ruth, via e-mail

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