Dear Readers: Now is a good time to check your wooden deck or patio for termites. Look for damage like a fine powder or holes. You may see these along stud lines in a wall or underneath furniture, the deck or the steps. If you see any of this, contact your exterminator ASAP. — Heloise

WASH YOUR HANDS

Dear Heloise: While many people wash their hands after they put away their groceries, a large number don’t remember to wash their hands before putting their groceries away. I go to the store and handle items that have probably been handled by more than a dozen people.

The pandemic should have taught us all a lesson on how easy it is to pick up bacteria that’s harmful. You might be a very clean person, but not everyone else is. Wash your hands often throughout the day. — L.E., in Oklahoma

CHECK WASHING

Dear Heloise: I had a check washed for $2,000. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the crooks are really lazy; they’re too lazy to steal the checks from individual mailboxes. They prefer to steal them from the blue Postal Service mailboxes. They have the key to the mailbox and steal armloads of mail in one stop.

It seems as though the same key fits many mailboxes, and they don’t use bleach or acetone to wash the check. It’s all done on computers and smartphones now. They scan the check into the computer, then Photoshop the check. They even use a banking app to deposit the check or try to cash it. They buddy up with someone who has an actual bank account and use this bank account to cash the check and move the money around.

Fortunately for me, my bank made it good. — J.S., in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

RECYCLING PLASTIC BAGS

Dear Heloise: I read your column every day. I have a great idea about recycling the big plastic bags we get from stores for the things we buy. I use them as kitchen garbage-bin liners. Even a dry cleaners’ clear plastic bags will work. Tie a double knot where the hanger sticks out. Use it in your kitchen garbage bins. Thank you. — Y.A., in Houston

SHOPPING HINT

Dear Heloise: I was married in 1958, and we had no money to speak of. So, I had to get creative with shopping. Most of all, I had to stop telling myself, “It’s only $1,” or “I won’t miss those $2, so why not buy it?” It’s amazing how those $1 and $2 purchases add up.

When my daughter was in college, she needed to get a few items from the drugstore, so I gave her $20. She came home in shock when she discovered that $20 didn’t go far. It was the best lesson she ever got in money management. — M.B., in Illinois

CLEAN WATERWAYS

Dear Heloise: Our beaches are getting littered with all sorts of trash as more and more people go to the beaches to play and cool off in the heat. If any of your readers are heading off to a beach somewhere, please ask them to bag up all their trash, especially plastic items. They should also pick up and throw away any trash they happen to find on our shores.

Our waterways have become a national disgrace with pollution and garbage scattered everywhere. It’s our country, so let’s keep it clean. — K.H., in Minnesota

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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.