HELPFUL HINTS

DEAR HELOISE: I live in Alaska, where we have very little daylight about eight months of the year. I use candles a great deal. My problem is that the “scratchy” section on the side of the box of wooden matches wears off before all the matches are used. How do I ignite them? I’ve tried emery boards, but that didn’t work. Any suggestions?

— Maggie B., Alaska DEAR READER: A lot of people think you can use any scratchy surface to light a match, but it’s not true for strike-on-box matches. That strip on the side of the box contains a chemical that interacts with the match to ignite a flame. You need strike-anywhere matches.

DEAR HELOISE: It seems that when I travel, I never have enough room to bring back the souvenirs I collect. So, I pack only the oldest underwear that I no longer want. When I’ve worn them for a day, I then trash them instead of packing them to bring home. This frees up enough space for souvenirs and decreases my laundry load! — Mary, Mountain Top, Pa. DEAR READER: Not only does this lighten your laundry load, it frees up space in dresser drawers at home and helps keep those drawers from becoming messy.

DEAR READERS: The humble spaghetti squash can be used in place of pasta, but unlike pasta, spaghetti squash has only 42 calories per serving (1 cup); pasta has over 300 calories per serving (1 cup). Pasta also is lacking in vitamins C and A, while spaghetti squash has about 4 percent of your recommended daily intake of both vitamins. Spaghetti squash is high in beta carotene, which helps prevent heart disease. The level of potassium in spaghetti squash helps lower high blood pressure over time. The omega-6 fatty acid is excellent for the brain, and the folate contained in spaghetti squash is essential for pregnant women to help prevent birth defects. Spaghetti squash contains 0 fat grams, with 0 grams of cholesterol, while pasta has about 18 grams of fat and 9 grams of cholesterol per serving.

When a recipe calls for pasta, you might want to replace it with spaghetti squash for a more nutritious dish.

DEAR HELOISE: I love to use hair conditioner when shaving my legs. The razor glides smoothly, and there is no razor irritation.

— Lisa R., Colorado

Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or email