HELOISE: How to take care of plants

Dear Readers: Houseplants can be a beautiful and healthy addition to a home. Here are some hints for taking care of them:

If your plant starts to lose or have spots on the leaves, these generally are signs of a bigger issue. Try moving the plant to a different location and providing it with different lighting. Sometimes just moving from one window to another in a house makes all the difference.

Don’t water plants too much or too little. A good way to tell if your plant needs to be watered is to push your finger 1/4 inch down in the soil to check if it’s dry. Also, if the plant (pot and all) is light when picked up, it’s time to water. If you notice that after watering, leaves turn yellow or there is still water in the bottom of the drainage plate days later, you may be overwatering.

Make sure to inspect plants for bugs and general health before you buy. Check the underside of the leaves so you don’t bring pests into your house!

Heloise

Dear Heloise: When sorting clothes to wash, be sure to fasten the hooks on bras. This step prevents them from getting “hooked” on another article of clothing, plus you don’t have to worry whether or not you’ve worn the bra after they are put in your lingerie drawer.

Cora W., Bryans Road, Md.

Dear Heloise: If you can’t remember to change out your toothbrush as often as you should, an easy way is to buy new toothbrushes when you buy a tube of toothpaste.

Jo Ellen Keller, via email

Dear Heloise: I read your recent hint titled “clean shower.” A better solution to rinsing off shower tiles is to go to a large hardware store and buy a diverter valve, which easily attaches to the little pipe that the shower head is attached to.

Then buy a hand-held shower hose and head, reattach the fixed head, and you now have the best of a fixed head and a hand-held shower sprayer. All you do is press a button on the diverter device. It’s so easy, and it can be used each time after you take a shower.

Roye M. in Wichita Falls, Texas

Dear Heloise: I recently ate out at a restaurant, and when I asked the server to wrap up the leftovers, he returned with a container, on the outside of which he had written the name of the entree and today’s date.

Renee Hoffman from California

King Features Syndicate