LITTLE ROCK — DEAR READERS: Here is this week’s sound off, about checkout lanes at grocery stores:
Why is it that grocery stores build 30 checkout lanes, and they open only four or five of them? I constantly have to wait in line at one of two open lanes, while 25 others sit there unused. Even when it is a busy time of year, like around the holidays, they may open a few more, but never all. Why do they even have them, if they are not going to be used?
- A Reader in Texas
DEAR READERS: Other uses for upright, cylindrical potato-chip cans:
Keep uncooked spaghetti
Ship cookies in one
Use to hold straws
Make into a piggy bank
Store crochet or knitting needles
DEAR HELOISE: I know you have published tips on removing water spots from finished furniture. Would you share them again?
- Ed, via e-mail
DEAR READER: Mix a little baking soda and non-gel white toothpaste together and rub on the spot. Make sure to use a non-gel toothpaste without whitening ingredients. It takes some time for the spots to disappear - just be patient. When they are gone, polish or wax the wood.Be sure to test in an unseen area before trying this. Baking soda is one of my all-time favorite household products. Did a young artist mark on your washable walls with crayons? Put a little baking soda on a damp sponge and rub the area.
DEAR HELOISE: I get those monthly mailers filled with coupons. I don’t use most of them, but they often have coupons for discounts at restaurants or for things like car washes or oil changes. For coupons like these, I keep them in a plastic zippered bag in my glove box. I never know when I am going to have the time to stop for a car wash or oil change, or when we will eat at a particular restaurant. Now they are always available, and I don’t lose out on saving some money.
- A Reader, via e-mail
DEAR HELOISE: I read in my paper today the hint about carrying pins (Heloise here: A reader wrote in about keeping extra safety pins on the hem of her skirt). I like what I do better. I carry extra safety pins on my key rings.
- Josie in West Virginia
Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or e-mail Heloise@Heloise.com
ActiveStyle, Pages 28 on 02/04/2013
Print Headline: HELPFUL HINTS
Comments on: HELPFUL HINTS
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