A hint to help your garden harvest
Dear Readers:
If you have extra carpet remnants or strips of old carpet, you can use them in between garden rows so that you won’t have to step in mud when you pick your vegetables or flowers. — Heloise
No more sorting laundry
Dear Heloise: I haven’t sorted laundry since 2005, when I learned a trick from my son. He came home from college one weekend with his dirty clothes and tossed them in the washing machine. Red shirts, white underwear, blue jeans -- you name it. It was all thrown together, along with a color grabber sheet.
Now I use color catcher dye-trapping sheets, but there are many other types to choose from as well. Instead of washing a load of white laundry, then a load of colored clothes, I do one large load of all my clothes and finish in no time.
Also, I use the sheets more than once, until they start turning gray from all the dye. — Ruth C., Salado, Texas
Peeled versus unpeeled veggies
Dear Heloise: I read in your column a letter about whether or not to peel some vegetables and how leaving the peel on saves lost nutrients. I found that I have allergic reactions (a tingling sensation in my mouth) with unpeeled, raw carrots, but not with peeled carrots.
There are a lot of studies being done on vegetable allergies, but this is just my experience. Warm regards. — Mary Beck, via email
Reusing yoga mats
Dear Heloise: Two of my friends and I took yoga classes and became disinterested after a few months. The other two friends didn’t want their yoga mats anymore, so I asked for them and found that the mats had several uses. They are easy to cut up, so I used them to line the cupboard where
I keep my lead crystal items.
I also use them as mats to kneel on while gardening in my flower bed, and I even made coasters from them!
Yoga mats are fairly cheap, so I buy a few whenever they’re on sale. — A.M., in California
Friday leftovers
Dear Heloise: I get so annoyed by picky eaters, so I found a way to cure my family of this habit. I save all the leftovers from the week, and on Friday nights, we consume all the things that haven’t been touched.
Of course, I know better than to serve organ meat because they would rather starve than eat it, so it’s off the menu. I don’t serve acorn squash either because they hate it, but they like zucchini.
Sometimes it can be a crazy dinner on Fridays, but it has saved me a small fortune on my food budget. And with a blended family like ours (three boys and three girls), we need to shop carefully. — A.J., in Idaho
Kitten season
Dear Readers: This time of year brings the season where a lot of unwanted kittens are born.
If you haven’t already taken your cats to a vet to be spayed or neutered, please do so immediately. Your pet will also be a cleaner, friendlier companion. — Heloise
Stuck-on rubber gloves
Dear Heloise: I have had a problem getting my rubber gloves off after washing dishes at night. (I use extra hot water.) But then I decided to put some flour in my gloves, shake them up and toss out the extra flour. It’s so easy now to get my gloves on and off. — G.S., via email
Kneading bread
Dear Heloise: To knead bread, just wet your hands a little to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. — J.H., via email
Send a great hint to: Heloise Box 795001
San Antonio, TX 78279-5001 Fax: 1-210-HELOISE