HELOISE: Hints may help you to avoid a tragedy

Dear Heloise: I just heard a story of another infant forgotten and left in a parked car all day, with tragic results! Solution: Pair your purse with the diaper bag, placing both on the front seat by you or both on the back seat next to your infant.

Grandma in San Antonio

Sadly, this happens more than it should (more than one child a month in the United States dies from being left in a vehicle) because a routine was changed, the other parent took the child or picked him or her up, and the child was left unintentionally in the vehicle.

Even if it only gets hot occasionally where you live, this awful situation can happen to anyone. The inside of a closed vehicle (even with the windows open slightly and parked in the shade) can quickly turn into an oven, and babies, small children and pets cannot regulate their body temperature the way adults can.

Please stop and think! Put your purse, diaper bag, briefcase, etc., in the back with the baby to alert you. Or place something unusual — a beach ball, a stuffed animal, a box of tissues — on the front seat next to you to remind you. Or post a sticky note on the dashboard.

You think it will never happen to you or your family, but I can assure you that the families who have suffered this type of horrific event thought it would never happen to them.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I went to get my recipe for your general cleaning solution but couldn’t find it. It called for water, nonsudsing ammonia, rubbing alcohol and a small amount of dishwashing detergent; however, I don’t remember the amounts. Would you please provide that information to me? Thank you in advance.

Sandra, via email

Easy to do, and a real money-saver, too. Just pour 1/2 cup nonsudsing ammonia, 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol and 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid into a bucket and fill with water to the 1-gallon mark.

Wear rubber gloves when working with this solution or anything containing ammonia. Never mix ammonia with bleach or any cleanser containing bleach.

This all-purpose cleaner is safe for most surfaces

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I have found that I can recycle salad-dressing bottles as vases when I make giveaway bouquets. The bottles work wonderfully, and the receiver is always happy to get flowers.

A Reader, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: I read your column on pedestrians walking at dusk, and I wish to add something. Pedestrians in parking lots might not realize that they cannot be seen by a driver who is backing out of a parking space. I would not miss your column — so many helpful hints!

Shirley, Springfield, Ohio

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