Don’t let your roller clog with hair

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I have long hair and have noticed how it has become the current fashion trend, so I thought I’d share this hint. I discovered that having long hair is nearly as bad as having a shaggy long-haired dog in the family! In the past, when I vacuumed the carpets, the roller got filled with innumerable, annoying, tightly wound strands of strong hair that had to be pulled out.

Suddenly, I got an idea. Certainly, I thought the hair is just lying on the surface of the carpet. What if I used a broom or a brush to capture a portion of the hair before I vacuumed? I went to my broom closet and found a scrubbing brush on the end of a broomstick. So, I tried long gentle sweeps of the surface of the carpet, and sure enough, I could pick up quite a bit of hair, saving some of the usual strug- gle of removing hair from the roller brush. From that day on, that is what I do. — Priscilla Zanni, Vancouver, Washington

Picture storage

Dear Heloise: Many people have pictures of family and places they have been, and most of those pictures are just “pictures in a box.” As most people now have computers, they should just scan those pic- tures, and they can put the “who, what or where” on its file name. Then, they can be stored on the computer or on flash drives, and can be searched for and found very easily. No longer just “pictures in a box’’ — and in case of disaster, they can be saved. Plus, hundreds of pictures can be saved in just a little space. I put them in folders, with dates on them so that I could have months and years together. For example: Folder 2001, Mom and Dad, vacation at the beach. Thank you. — Gene Stephenson, Les- age, West Virginia

Household Hints

Remember your list

Dear Heloise: With regard to the lady who tapes her grocery list and coupons to her car steering wheel, I have a far better solution, so as to not forget those things when going shopping. Take a clothespin or a clip and just attach the list to your car keys! If you need to take food somewhere, put the food in the fridge along with the car keys. You can hardly forget your keys when leav- ing home. — Victoria, Sid- ney, Ohio