LITTLE ROCK — DEAR HELOISE: If you have an ant problem, putsome vinegar in a spray bottle and, before you go to bed at night, lightly spray all over your kitchen counter and around thewastebasket, or wherever the ants appear. You might not like the smell, but it’s better than the smell of commercial repellents.
- Barb K. in California DEAR READER: Vinegar works by eradicating the ants’ scent trail. Did you know that vinegar is a workhorse around your home? Want silky skin?
Mix 1 cup of apple-cider vinegar into a tubful of bath water.
DEAR HELOISE: When rinsing out a shampoo bottle or dish-soap bottle to recycle, use cold water, not hot. The hot water just keeps making bubbles, and the cold water cuts the soap residue right away.
- Alice Wells in Salem, Ore.
DEAR HELOISE: I use isopropyl alcohol (first-aid antiseptic) on a paper towel or napkin to remove gum stuck inside the clothes dryer and for removing sticker residue from ceramic, glass, metal and plastic surfaces.
- Carol S. in Stephens City, Va.
DEAR HELOISE: My favorite shower-cap use is to put some over the side-view mirrors in the winter to keep off snow and ice. Saves time when you have to clean off the car.
- Linda in New YorkDEAR HELOISE: I was tired of using dry baby wipes at the top of the pack and sopping-wet wipes at the bottom.
When I buy an extra package of baby towelettes, I store them upside down. The water will go to the top of the package. When you begin to use the package and flip it right side up, the moisture will redistribute as you use them.
- Michele, via e-mail Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or e-mail
Weekend, Pages 38 on 10/28/2010