Tone it down so I can hear!

DEAR HELOISE >>

Why must so many television programs and movies have loud background music? This makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to hear what is being said by the actors. I’ve turned off shows that are hard to hear and walked out of movie theaters where the words were being drowned out by the music or noise in the background. After talking to a number of women at various functions, I found out I’m not the only one who has done this. Whoever is responsible for the music in movies should really tone it down so we can hear the actors.

— Patricia T., Topeka,

Kansas

DEAR HELOISE >> My kids are grown and gone, and my husband and I will retire this year, so I’m busy downsizing all the duplicates and junk in our house. I bought a new pizza cutter but threw out a lot of old knives that were in terrible shape. Not only do we use the pizza cutter for pizza, we cut our toast, sandwiches, some veggies and fruit with it. This eliminates a bunch of extra tools in my kitchen drawers.

— Dorothy W., North Platte, Nebraska

DEAR HELOISE >> In an effort to keep my car clean, I take an empty plastic grocery bag and loop one of the handles over the stick shift in my car. This way I have a “trash bag” to collect all sorts of junk. My sister-in-law uses empty tissue boxes.

— Georgia V., Englewood, Florida

DEAR HELOISE >> How can I keep my new jeans from fading so fast?

— Linnie M., Anchorage, Alaska

DEAR LINNIE >> Before you wash your jeans, turn them inside out and use cold water. You can airdry them or use a dryer on low heat. Be sure to wash only dark colored clothing with your jeans when you wash them, and don’t use too much detergent.

HELOISE >> We’ve lived in this same house for two decades, and we know all of our neighbors. When we go out of town, I ask them to take turns parking their cars in our driveway, and I have timers on all of our lights. This way it looks as though someone is home all the time. The house directly across the street from me does nothing when they go out of town, and they’ve been robbed twice.

— Karen G., McNair, Virginia

DEAR HELOISE >> I recently made out my will, and my lawyer made an excellent suggestion. First, tell family members/friends how you want to have your funeral arranged, or make arrangements with a funeral home before it’s needed and let your relatives know which funeral home you’ve selected. Don’t leave all that information in your will, because a will is usually read after we are buried. — James F., Albany,

Georgia