Manage bank info on your phone
Dear Heloise: I start my day with your column and enjoy all of the hints. I recently read a hint about credit card protection where the reader suggested going to the bank to set up and receive text messages when a credit card is used.
It isn’t necessary to go to the bank. This can all be managed by logging into your account on your computer or phone. There are many options available for security and notifications that you can and should consider. You can even deposit checks using your phone without ever having to go to the bank.
You can also temporarily freeze your credit card if it’s misplaced. If you need help setting it up, just ask your kids or a trusted techie.
— Barbara Oliver
via email
Keeping up with prescriptions
Dear Heloise: Like most seniors, our medicine cabinet is pretty full, so it can be difficult to pull all of my husband’s daily pills. My husband has about seven or eight prescriptions and three or four recommended supplements. I refill his daily medicine pillbox each week.
To make sure that I don’t forget one of his pills, I keep them all in one tray in the cabinet. (A foil pan or basket could also work.) Each week, I pull the tray out and take them all out of the tray. As I fill up his pillbox, I put the bottles back in the tray, so that when they’ve all been returned to the tray, I know I’m done.
— Mary Dandurand
via email
Cleaning stains
Dear Heloise: Upon seeing your recipe for getting rid of cat urine odors and stains, I’d like to share that same recipe with different portions for stain removal.
We belong to a dance club, during which we usually have a meal, including wine. It was my turn to wash the white tablecloths, and they were a mess with food and red wine mishaps. So, I stir together 1 part hydrogen peroxide, 1 part Dawn dishwashing liquid and enough baking soda to make a paste. I use a plastic spoon and spread the mixture on the stain.
Then I launder them. If you have to treat quite a few stains, don’t add laundry detergent, or you’ll enter Suds City. This is a miracle cleaner.
— Donna Belton, Texas
Keeping eggs warm
Dear Heloise: When making scrambled eggs for a larger family brunch, I was concerned about keeping them warm, since we would all take turns going through the buffet that I had set out. So, I chose to serve them out of my 2-quart CrockPot, and it was perfect. Folks could be assured that they would still have warm eggs when they went for a second helping. — Madeline Rutland, Vt.
Lint roller
Dear Heloise: I don’t know, if you already have this hint, but here it is: To clean lint and pet hair from your felt chair pads, just use your lint roller. It works like a champ. — Maggie White Madison, Miss.
Flannel-backed tablecloths
Dear Heloise: Down here in New Orleans, I use old flannel-backed plastic tablecloths to cover tender vegetation when the occasional freeze is predicted. The flannel touches the leaves and protects them from being “burned” by the cold plastic. The plastic also shields them from freezing wind and rain.
— K.S. New Orleans Send a money-saving or time-saving hint to Heloise@ Heloise.com. I can’t answer your letter personally but will use the best hints received in my column.