Reader writes in with helpful parking tips

Dear Heloise: When I go to the store, I always park in a spot right next to the carriage return for several reasons. First, it’s highly unlikely that someone will leave a carriage near my car (and potentially damage it), as the carriage return is right there. Second, I always grab a carriage from the return to help the lot attendant have fewer carriages to lug. Third, it allows me to “test” the carriage as I walk toward the store. If it doesn’t work well, I grab a new one inside. And lastly, it’s convenient for me to load up my car, then put my carriage away.

— B.C. New Hampshire

Gifts for bookworms

Dear Heloise: Most of my friends are avid readers who love nothing more than a good book. So, on a gift-giving occasion, I usually give a gift card to a local bookstore or buy a book for them. Then I crossstitch a bookmarker as a personal touch. Everyone seems to like it.

— K.M.

Oregon

Roll it up Dear

Heloise: I’ve read your books and found some very useful information in them. One suggestion stood out the most, and it was about rolling up clothing while packing for a trip.

I liked the idea so much that I rolled up my dish towels and neatly stored them in a kitchen drawer. They look organized and are handy to have.

— S.D.

Illinois

Cooking duties

Dear Heloise: My two brothers and I like to rent a beach house for a couple of weeks each summer, and we take our families and dogs with us. The first year, we all brought too much food, so we decided that in the future, one family would handle breakfast, another would do lunch, and another would do dinner.

This was only for the first three days. For the following three days after that, the family who did breakfast would do lunch, the previous lunch family would do dinner, and the previous dinner family would do breakfast. We rotated the labor, and everyone had a fair share of duties and expenses. Plus, we all got to show off our cooking skills.

— Don, Jack and Andy

Michigan

Match carrier Dear

Heloise: I place my wooden matches in a pill bottle for camping trips. However, I realized that I needed a striking surface in order to use the matches, so I cut out a round circle and glued it to the top of the pill bottle. It was so simple, and I can easily carry the pill bottle in my purse.

— L.S. California

Vintage dresser scarves Dear

Heloise: Years ago, I inherited my mother’s dresser scarves. Most were hand-embroidered and rather nice, even after all these years. I noticed that the top of my refrigerator gets rather dusty, so I used one of these dresser scarves to protect it against dust by laying the scarf over the top of my fridge. I can easily remove it, wash it and iron it. I then place it on the bottom of a stack of dresser scarves and put the next one on top on the refrigerator.

— J.D. Oregon

Cookie crumbles Dear

Heloise: Whenever I buy a packet of cookies, I save the crumbles in the bag, then transfer them to a sealed glass jar. They make delightful toppings for ice cream or pudding.

— L.R. Wisconsin

Send a money-saving or time-saving hint to Heloise@ Heloise.com. I can’t answer your letter personally but will use the best hints received in my column.