HELPFUL HINTS
DEAR HELOISE: I read your column as I do every morning at breakfast, and the first letter I saw was a suggestion from Barbara, in Houston, on how to loosen a stuck jar.
Now picture this: Sitting on my counter for the last week is a jar of cherry salsa. Try as I might, that lid would not budge; it was frozen to the jar like lug nuts frozen to a car wheel. After reading Barbara’s idea, I thought, “What have I got to lose?” If it doesn’t work, the cherry salsa will continue to sit on the counter until I can find a big, strong man to open it.
I followed her instructions — water was in a bowl inside the microwave for 4 minutes, nice and hot. I placed the jar with the lid down in the hot water. Then I waited and waited. Afterward, I put the jar upright and placed a towel over the hot lid. And guess who’s having cherry salsa for dinner tonight?
Thank you, Barbara, in Houston, and thank you, Heloise, for printing her brilliant suggestion!
— Eileen Shiman, San Antonio
DEAR READERS: If your home is cluttered and you want to pick up or get rid of a lot of stuff, here’s an easy hint for doing so:
Grab a plastic garbage bag or a light wastebasket with a handle to hold all the stuff you do not want from each room in your home. When the bag is full, toss the trash into the garbage, and if you can, reuse the bag again.
DEAR HELOISE: I am now retired, but when I worked at a business that used filing cabinets with hanging files, we would use the small binder clips to separate filing subjects by putting a small clip on each hanging rail. A group of files would not go past these clips, and it made finding certain files much easier.
— Office Manager,
in Pennsylvania DEAR HELOISE: If you have trouble getting a threequarter-length sleeve down a jacket, thread the sleeve into the jacket first before putting it on. Works like a charm!
— Corrinne Berkland, Universal City, Texas DEAR READERS: When you move into a new house, have a locksmith reset all of the tumbler locks. Or even buy new locks! You never know how many sets of keys may have been given to previous friends or guests of the former owners.
Send a money- or time-saving hint to
Heloise@Heloise.com