DEAR READERS: Recently, we asked you to send in hints on the ways you reuse those small, brown, plastic prescription bottles. Here are some of the many ways you reuse and recycle these bottles: “My hunting buddies and I use these bottles to store cotton balls saturated with deer scent. Take the lid off and place on the ground.When finished hunting, put the lid back on.” - Marty B. in Arkansas
“Use for travel storage of used diabetic fingerstick pins and test strips. Once home, seal the bottle for disposal.”
- Rosanna D. in Kentucky
“After collecting and drying seeds from my garden, I store them in empty prescription bottles. Just be sure the seeds are completely dry, or they will mildew.” - Mary G., via email
“As a Cub Scout den leader, I taught my Scouts to use empty prescription bottles to keep matches dry. In a separate bottle, store tinder (cotton fibers and other dry plant material) for kindling fires (under strict supervision only, of course).” - Charlotte F., via email
DEAR HELOISE: Do you have a hint on how to clean an LED screen?
- Julie M., via email
DEAR READER: Wipe the screen gently with a microfiber cloth. There are cleaners made specifically for these screens, but you do not want to use any harsh liquid cleaners. A little splash of tap water on the cloth will help if the screen is really dirty.
DEAR HELOISE: Our daughter and her family travel a lot with our grandson’s wakeboarding team. She is like everyone else who hates to have their loaf of bread squashed, so by accident she found a way to keep it intact.
After emptying a 12-pack of canned drinks, she decided to try to see if her bread would fit at the end of the drink box, and it did! Now, wherever we go, we use this idea to keep our bread from getting mashed.
- Mary S. in Louisiana
DEAR HELOISE: If you put a microfiber cloth in your clothes dryer with every load, it will pick up tissues left in a pocket. The microfiber cloth will come out of the dryer with the entire tissue on it. I keep a microfiber cloth on top of my dryer just for this purpose. It picks up threads as well.
- A Reader, via email
Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or email [email protected]
Style, Pages 34 on 04/15/2014