Dear Readers:

It’s amazing what you can do in five minutes! Each day set aside five minutes to focus on one task. For example, you can throw out, pick up or store just five items from a kitchen or desk drawer, the bathroom medicine cabinet, the garage or the laundry room. Or just take those five minutes for yourself. Make a cup of coffee or tea and sit outside on your deck or patio, listen to your favorite music, catch up with a friend and relax for several minutes.

— Heloise

good screens on your windows and doors. And don’t leave the doors open! In the kitchen, cover and seal all foods.

Outside, flies will lay eggs in the garbage, lawn clippings, water or rotting food. Remove as many of these sources as you can. This will stop the flies from breeding.

You also can kill flies with a spray from a squirt bottle filled with a mild detergent-and-water solution (about 1/3 cup dishwashing detergent to 1 gallon of water). And you can zap them with hairspray to disable them.

— Heloise Dear Heloise:

We order quite a bit of takeout food, and boy, those black plastic food containers pile up in my kitchen pantry. They are so sturdy that I hate to toss them. We have several precious pups and are planning to take them along on driving trips this summer. I have saved several of the containers for them to use for food and water dishes when we travel. I also can throw the tops for my dogs to catch and play with when we are at a roadside stop. And I feel good that I am recycling them in such a useful way. — Annie from Connecticut

Q.

Which one of the following has the most fiber per serving? a. One medium apple b. One medium orange c. 1 cup of blueberries d. 1 cup of raspberries If you answered d., 1 cup for raspberries, you are correct. It has 8 grams of fiber per cup. Blueberries come in second with 3.5 grams, an orange has 3.4 grams and an apple has 3.3 grams. Fiber is good for you, so include a favorite fruit in your daily food intake.

— Heloise Dear Heloise:

On the weekends, my little kids are outside all the time and inevitably they get a cut or a scrape. They’re so frightened when I try to clean the wound and they see the blood. What can I do?

— Becky from Texas

Use a red washcloth, which won’t show blood, to clean a scraped knee or elbow. It will be less scary for them. And grab frozen fast-food condiment packages or even a small package of frozen peas to use as ice packs to ease the swelling or pain.

— Heloise