Dear Heloise: I’ve enjoyed your column for years and thought I’d share my hint for hanging Christmas lights in trees. I use my angled broom! The string of lights is held in the bristles of the broom, and the broom adds at least five feet to help me reach the branches. It takes a little coordination, but it sure helps get the job done. I hope someone finds this helpful and that all of your readers have a beautiful Christmas! — Erin, Ethel, Louisiana

NEW DRYER HINT

Dear Heloise: Last year, you had some dryer hints that were good; however, as a 55-year-old and seventime home owner, I have a very important hint I have never seen in your column. If your dryer is not on an outside wall and vented directly outside, it may be vented through the attic. This is also a fire hazard. A vent cleaning costs about $150 or more.

The more you use your dryer, the more you need to have the vent cleaned. Your clothes last longer if you don’t dry them, or dry them very little. Remember, the dryer lint came from your clothes. My dryers have lasted a long time because I use them so little. You should still clean the vent on the dryer after each dryer use. I have an extra shower curtain rod across the middle of the bathtub so I can hang dripping clothes and not have them drip on the floor.

Your column saved me from making a big mistake on a carpet bait-and-switch deal in 1989. I bought new carpet, which was expensive. I asked if I could have a sample in a color that people would not want to buy. And when they came to install it, I pulled out my sample, and they took their poor carpet and ordered the good carpet I had originally ordered. Thanks. — Clair Katy, Texas

USED DRYER SHEETS

Dear Heloise: I take my used dryer sheets to clean the lint from my dryer filter and the scattered lint on top of the dryer. Works for me. Best regards. — Robert A. Lipe, Prairieville, Louisiana

SALT AND ANTI-CAKING ADDITIVES

Dear Heloise: We are soon picking our olives and will cure them with a salt brine process that we make with additive-free salt. Anyone that does canning or curing with salt, please read the entire label before purchasing.

Anti-caking agents, added to prevent clumping of the salt, will yellow or cloud your brine, and this is not attractive. (I do not know how it affects the taste, though, because we never use it.) The front label may say “canning salt,” “kosher salt,” “sea salt,” etc., but may still have an anti-caking element added.

PS: I, yes, am a man who reads your column daily in the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California, often outloud to my wife at the breakfast table. Thank you. — Tim Harned, Perris, California

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Hints from Heloise run occasionally in Lifestyles. Readers may send a hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000, fax it to 210-HELOISE, or email: Heloise@Heloise.com. Letters won’t be answered personally.