HELPFUL HINTS

DEAR HELOISE: With spring cleaning and quarantining encouraging organizing the home, there’s one area many haven’t thought about: How to preserve your most treasured memories for generations to come. From ticket stubs to letters, the items we care about will tell stories for the future and represent our personal history. The National WWI Museum and Memorial’s exhibit “Why Keep That?” explores the journey of a donated item to a museum, and the museum wants people to know how and what to keep when cleaning their homes so their keepsakes can continue telling stories in years to come.

The museum has shared six tips below for preserving your keepsakes at home to properly preserve history so your items can tell stories for the future.

1. Handle with clean hands. Wash and avoid lotion before handling objects.

2. Store objects where the temperature and humidity are stable — avoid attics and basements.

3. Store objects in a dark location.

4. Use acid-free storage materials.

5. Avoid the use of tape, staples and lamination.

6. Digitize what you can.

— Bruce Miller, via email

DEAR HELOISE: I like the “name tag” idea from Julia N. that I carry with me on a card which I’ve written, “In case of emergency please call …” It has phone numbers for my hubby, sons, and sister, my insurance info, prescription drugs I’m taking, and a drug allergy. I write it on a 3-by-5 card or type on the computer, then put laminating sheets (easy peel-and-stick) on both sides, and trim it to the size of a credit card. It’s in my wallet next to my driver’s license or in my pocket when I’m out for a walk. Hope I never need it, but it gives me and my loved ones peace of mind. Thanks for your great column.

— Marty Motia, La Canada, Calif.

DEAR HELOISE: I have seen you post many hints about cleaning shower heads when they get nasty. Readers need to know that if the shower head is all gooped up, so is the pipe that feeds it. We made this discovery when we replaced a pipe in the wall. We now have fantastic water pressure in our shower. It was easy to do and not too expensive, either. Thanks for all that you do. Blessings from Wyoming.

— Diane Campbell, via email