<\/p>\n
STOCKPILING FOOD FOR THE WINTER<\/b><\/p>\n
Dear Heloise:<\/b> It comes as no surprise that groceries are getting a lot more expensive. Where I live, we are often snowed in for a few days during the winter, or the roads get so bad that it\u2019s nearly impossible to get to a grocery store. So, starting in September, I begin to stockpile food that will not perish for a long time such as canned chili, canned soups, pasta and various sauces, or materials to make a sauce.<\/p>\n
Items such as laundry soap, hand soap, toilet paper, paper towels, and shampoo can be stored in large plastic bins or cardboard boxes in the garage, and food items are stored under beds, in closets, or in any place with a little extra room. I buy a little at a time, and this way, it\u2019s not such a strain on our budget. Even if it doesn\u2019t snow, and we have a rather \u201clean month,\u201d I can still feed my family. — Casy J., in Montana<\/p>\n
KEEPING YOUR FEET WARM<\/b><\/p>\n
Dear Heloise:<\/b> I live in Arizona, where we go to the high mountains to play in the snow once a year if we are lucky. Most people here do not have snow clothing. Feet are the most important part of the body to keep warm and dry. With newspaper plastic bags that are placed inside shoes and socks, any regular shoe can work in the snow. The bags keep the feet dry, even with tennis shoes. — Holly F., in Tucson, Arizona<\/p>\n
AIR VENT CAPS<\/b><\/p>\n
Dear Heloise<\/b>: My hint is to save the air vent caps from very large jugs of liquid laundry detergent when it comes time to toss out the empties. These are the small screw-top caps that are usually on the top of the jug, and you can loosen them to let air in so that the liquid flows smoothly from the spigot.<\/p>\n
Inevitably, because the caps are kept in a loosened state, they often fall off and roll under the washing machine out of reach! So, just as I tend to also save the \u201cmain\u201d caps (i.e. the larger screw-top or pop-on caps that seal the jug\u2019s main opening and often double as a measuring cup), I have started to save a few of the smaller air vent caps as well so that I have a ready replacement whenever I lose one. — Angela M., in St. Louis<\/p>\n
DISPOSING OF MEDS<\/b><\/p>\n
Dear Heloise:<\/b> A national drug retail chain (CVS) has a display near the pharmacy where you can dispose of medications. Place the pills into a zip-close bag first. Remove any personal information from the container before putting into the trash can. — Marcy, in Menifee, California<\/p>\n
Marcy, good hint! And readers, if you cannot peel off a label, be sure to take a wide, black, felt-tipped pen and cross out all the information on the bottle. Protect your privacy. — Heloise<\/p>\n
DUSTY LAMPSHADES<\/b><\/p>\n
Dear Heloise:<\/b> A recent column in the Houston Chronicle mentioned dusting lampshades. Many people have pleated white lampshades that you can buy at any hardware store or big-box store. I have three in my living room.<\/p>\n
I take the shades off the lamps, go outside with them and a big plain paintbrush in my other hand, and swipe down on the grooves from top to bottom. This releases all the dust inside the bottom of each pleat where the dust accumulates, and I shake the paintbrush off after each stroke. If it\u2019s been a while, I repeat the process. The dust ends up outside, and the shades are nice and clean.<\/p>\n
This also works on the vented covers on your AC vents and the return vent cover for your heater or AC unit. Wash and dry the large paintbrush afterward. — Rusti S., in Houston<\/p>\n
SEND A GREAT HINT TO: Heloise@Heloise.com<\/a><\/p>\n (c) 2025 by King Features Syndicate Inc.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nj.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" STOCKPILING FOOD FOR THE WINTER Dear Heloise: It comes as no surprise that groceries are getting a lot more expensive. Where I live, we are often snowed in for a few days during the winter, or the roads get so bad that it\u2019s nearly impossible to get to a grocery store. So, starting in September, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2138140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2138140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2138141,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138140\/revisions\/2138141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2138140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2138140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2138140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}