Dear Heloise: Our neighbor gave us a great suggestion to lower our cooling bills this summer. He installed solar and sun screens on the windows that are on the sunny side of his house. These screens block the majority of the UV rays on the hot side of his home. So, we had a mobile screen company come to install them on ours. Oh, it’s so easy. And I’ll do anything to save money!

I love your wonderful column. Keep it up! — Sara, Orange County, California

A GROUP CHAT FOR ­WIDOWS

Dear Heloise: Older women who are living alone can benefit from forming small group chats through text message to check in on each other daily. One of my friends in our group has decided to commit to this. It’s nice to be noticed daily, and it’s a good way to make sure that we haven’t fallen and can’t get up. — Cindy, in Colorado

GARAGE DOOR KEYPAD

Dear Heloise: A lot of folks have an outside keypad to open their garage doors. With many brands, though, the “enter” key will also have a down arrow, so you don’t need to enter a code to get the door to go down.

That being said, some folks like to leave the garage door open a bit for air circulation or pet access. In this case, someone can push the enter key to cause the door to go down, then push it again so that the door will go up. Then they are in your garage. Try it. Thanks. — Chris M., in Houston

DISINFECTING WIPES

Dear Heloise: I use disinfecting wipes that come in a tall, round, plastic container. When all the wipes are gone, there is still some liquid in the bottom, so I put a few half-sized paper towels in the bottom and use them after they have soaked up the liquid. I usually do this several times until all the liquid has been used. With today’s prices, we need to do whatever we can to save money. — Allen Hendricks, via email

LEATHER LOTION

Dear Heloise: For our leather couch and chair, I use a Gold Class Rich Leather Lotion. It’s for car leather but works fine on our leather furniture. It cleans and conditions.

The one I use comes in oil form, but there’s also a spray bottle version. I put it on a white cloth, rub the leather to remove any dirt/stains, then buff the leather with another cloth.

Best regards and smiles. — T.D., in Ohio

TEACH KIDS HOW TO HOUSEKEEP

Dear Heloise: We have a blended family of three girls and three boys. I taught my daughters how to cook and clean by the time they were 8. My stepsons who live with us got a shock when they discovered they had to clean their own rooms, do some laundry, cook dinner once in a while, and help around the house. They complained, but it was a rule that was strictly enforced.

Vacuuming isn’t just for girls. Mopping the kitchen floor isn’t just for girls either. And if they thought doing a sloppy job would make me do it myself, they were in for a surprise because they had to do it over (and sometimes over and over again).

Two weeks ago, our oldest boy got married, and in his brief speech at the reception, he thanked me for demanding that he learn the basic life skill of housekeeping. All children should learn how to do these simple tasks. — J.M., in Oklahoma

— — —

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.