Flashback column includes helpful hints from 2012
Dear Readers:
Here’s a “flashback” column from March 2012. These hints are just as good today as they were back then. Enjoy!
— Heloise Dear Readers:
Painting is an easy and inexpensive way to change the look of a room in your house. Preparation is the most important step in the process and will make the project go more smoothly. Here are some things to do before starting:
Take out all the furniture that you can. Drape dropcloths over everything else. Place coverings on the floor as well. Fabric dropcloths work better than plastic on the floor because they’re less slippery!
Dust the walls thoroughly with a grime-grabbing microfiber cloth. Remove outlet and lightswitch covers, and apply painter’s tape around the openings, baseboards, window frames and crown molding.
Save a bit of paint for touchups in a glass jar with a lid. Also wear your painting shirt inside out so you can extend its use a few more times. Butter actually can help to remove paint splatters from your hands.
Have fun creating a new look for your room — easily and on the cheap!
—Heloise Dear Heloise:
I wanted to give my hummingbird feeder a good cleaning. I tried using an old toothbrush, but it never quite did the job as well as I wanted it to. Then I remembered that my son uses one of those highpressure water flossers on his braces to get where the toothbrush can’t. I found an old one, and it worked beautifully, blasting the gunk out of the places the toothbrush couldn’t reach. Now my hummingbirds have a nice, clean feeder to enjoy!
—Dianne, via email Dear Heloise:
When organizing my files, I realized the important information is on the first page of statements and any second-page info is redundant each month.
As I was purging my current files and storing my old ones, I was able to save space by just keeping the top page. Of course, I securely shredded the other pages before trashing.
—Sharon H., Capon Bridge, W.Va.
Hi Heloise: I have found a solution to keeping hats, gloves and scarves organized in the foyer closet during the winter season. I found a hanging vertical shoe organizer that’s only 6 inches wide so it doesn’t take up much closet space. It holds 10 pairs of shoes, but I use it instead for hats, gloves and scarves. I open the closet and grab whatever winter item I need for me or for the kids. I plan to use this during the other seasons for baseball hats and sun visors.
I showed it to my sister, and she is going to purchase one herself. Thanks for your tips throughout the years.
— Linda P., Berkeley Heights, N.J.
A 45-minute assessment of the brain health of 3-year-olds predicted key aspects of their behaviors over the next 35 years, according to research published in Nature Human Behaviour in 2016.
The results of this study are either incredibly depressing or encouraging, depending on your perspective.
In 1972, over 1,000 children in Dunedin, New Zealand, were evaluated. The scientists measured four risk factors thought to correlate with how these youngsters would develop into adulthood — socioeconomic deprivation, child maltreatment, intelligence and self-control. The group was re-evaluated 11 times over the next 35 years.
The children tested at age 3 who had the lowest “brain health” scores on those four indicators developed into adults with a variety of problems. Twenty-two percent of these high-risk children accounted for 81 percent of