THURSDAY TIPS

* Worried about pesticides in your diet? Try mangos, one of the fruits least likely to have pesticide residue.

* It can be a snap to remove burned-on food from the bottom of a pot or frying pan. All you have to do is sprinkle in some baking soda and add hot water. Let the mixture sit overnight. In the morning, add a dash more baking soda and scrub the residue away.

* Got dirty floors? Make sure you aren’t throwing good effort into a dirty mop. You’ll need a second bucket filled with rinse water, then follow this pattern: Clean mop in water with cleaner, mop a section of floor, rinse mop in plain water, go back over that section, rinse mop again. Repeat.

* “I like strong tea with no milk. My husband drinks black coffee. The coffee maker and our mugs get stained over time. About monthly, I ‘brew’ a pot of hot water, but I put a dishwasher ‘pac’ in the carafe. The hot water dissolves the cleaner, making the coffee carafe easy to clean. Then I use the detergent water to clean all the mugs. It works like magic.” — T.L. in Missouri

* Just in time for tax season: Don’t overlook the value of opening and contributing to an individual retirement account to lower your tax bill. Contributions need not always be made by Dec. 31 to count; it’s possible to open an account as late as tax-filing day on April 15 and still have it count against your 2018 taxes.

* To check for toilet leaks, add a few drops of food coloring to the toilet tank. If, without flushing, you see the bowl water start to change color, you know you have a leak.