Stay organized to ease bill-paying

DEAR READERS: If you find that you have extra time available during the pandemic, use it to keep your bills and documents well organized. Then you will be able to stay on top of your bill paying and keep your budget on track during this difficult period. Here are some money-saving hints:

■ Pay your bills on time to prevent late fees. Use your computer to help with online banking or to keep track of family bills. If you are having difficulty paying, contact the people you owe.

■ Create checklists to help you monitor household equipment so you don’t have unexpected major or minor repair bills. Also, set up quarterly or annual maintenance reminders for Ac/heating systems, major appliances and vehicles. Note on your yearly calendar all upcoming medical appointments or annual checkups, too. You may need to reschedule because of the pandemic.

DEAR READERS: During stressful times, soaking in a long, hot bath can be a wonderful way to lessen stress and unwind. I make my own homemade bath relaxers with products I have at home, which can be cheaper. Here are a couple of ideas for you to relax. Turn on some music, too.

1. Pour a quart of milk or mix a cup of powdered, nonfat dry milk into the bathtub, which can also tame sunburned skin.

2. Toss half a pound of sea salt into warm water, which will provide a skin-cleansing bath.

3. Add two cups of apple cider vinegar into warm water to relieve sunburned or itchy skin.

DEAR READERS: Crunchy onion rings are perfect as an appetizer or as a side with a hamburger. Here’s a quicker way to make them!

Slice onions into rings. Use prepared pancake mix as the batter. Follow the directions on the package and then dip the onion rings into the mixture and deep fry.

DEAR READERS: It doesn’t seem to matter where you live, these awful pests just figure out how to sneak into our houses, and then we have to work hard to get rid of them, which isn’t always easy.

I prefer not to use chemical pesticides, so instead I make a nontoxic, home-style solution to eliminate them. Here’s my favorite recipe to do the job:

Mix equal parts of boric acid powder with one of the following: sugar, f lour or cornmeal. Put the mixture on yogurt or margarine lids and place them where you see roaches. The reason this is effective is because roaches will run through the mixture and then eat it when they clean their legs and feelers. The boric acid powder will kill them over time. But a WARNING: Don’t let children or pets come into contact with this powdery mixture. Let kids know not to touch the lids or what’s on them.