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Dear Heloise: You can save on your gasoline bill by utilizing the "turn right on red" option. Instead of using gasoline to idle at a light for 30 to 60 seconds, just go straight and use the same gasoline to move you forward toward your destination.
You can further save by planning out your trips that tend to be in a circle and using the "right on red" choice, rather than sitting in a left turning lane and waiting for the light to change or a space in traffic. A national parcel delivery used these tricks, and they saved quite a bit of money. -- Dale, Dayton, Ohio
DON'T THROW IT OUT
Dear Heloise: Many of your readers' suggestions end with the phrase: "Just throw out when you are done." Please remind people that many of the things they are throwing out can be recycled. In a recent column, they were throwing out plastic bread bags and lids from deli containers, and both of these could have possibly been recycled. Many people do not know that the same stores that recycle their plastic bags will also recycle almost every other kind of plastic bag and wrapper. -- Holly Eaton-Bradfield, Little Rock, Arkansas
WILTED VEGETABLES
Dear Heloise: Regarding the letter on wilted veggies, I choose to put them in the freezer. When I am making a stew, a soup or even a canned meal, I add some of these so that nothing gets wasted, especially tomatoes gone soft. When cooking rice or pasta, I make extra and freeze so that they can also be added to soups and stews. -- Mary Rogers, San Antonio
RETURNING TO SENDER
Dear Heloise: H.R.B. of Seabrook, New Jersey, wrote in about how he handles junk mail that includes a return envelope. He said that on the envelope, he writes "dead" or "moved." I do something much simpler, providing that it is a self-addressed, stamped envelope. I merely seal the envelope without placing anything in it and mail it back. That will likely displease the sender, who has to pay for postage both ways. -- Diane, Woodland Hills, California
LAYING PARCHMENT PAPER
Dear Heloise: I love using parchment paper when baking, but I always had trouble keeping the corners down. Finally, a friend of mine told me to use magnets -- small dime-sized ones -- on the corners of my pans when I bake cookies. Once I have the unbaked cookies on the parchment, I just remove the magnets. (One time, I forgot to remove them, and the heated metal of the magnets burned the cookies nearest to them.) -- Carrie-Ann B., Valdosta, Georgia
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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.