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Using baking soda to clean toys

Dear Heloise: I use baking soda to absorb odors in my refrigerator. I replace the box about every four months, but instead of tossing out a perfectly good box, I use the remaining contents to scrub plastic toys that my young son chews on. He's cutting teeth right now. It doesn't kill bacteria, ...

Faux pas costs me a friendship

Dear Annie: Recently, I had a major social misstep that has essentially pushed one of my best friends out of my life. During the week of my birthday, I had a mid-30s crisis; a string of bad memories from dating and bad luck with women hit me and put me in a very emotionally weakened state of ...

Catching food grease

Dear Heloise: For years, I drained greasy foods on paper towels but ended up having to pick off tiny pieces of paper. Finally, I found a better way. We bought a new stove and oven combo, and I saved the oven rack from the old one we had. Now I place the oven rack over the sink with newspaper ...

Feeling the sting of supporting daughter’s family

Dear Annie: My husband and I have a 34-year-old daughter who has lived with us all her life (except for maybe a year). She brought her freeloading boyfriend in. I had cancer at the time and they didn't even bother to do anything, so she ended up pregnant. I kicked her boyfriend out of the ...

Does forgiveness fix all?

Dear Annie: Most often a cheating husband or wife causes the divorce. Most would want to end their marriage after finding their partner cheated. And most people would advise the offended partner to leave. This is most of what I read in people's letters and people's responses to you. But it ...

One in four people can’t cook

Dear Heloise: I recently read that one in four Americans can't make a basic meal, and I found this to be surprising. If you can read, you can follow instructions in a cookbook. If your mother cooked most of your meals, just ask yourself, "What did she make for dinner?" You don't need a ...