Dear Heloise: I wanted to tell you about my success in stopping a company from charging items on my credit card. I hadn’t paid that much attention to the charges because I was in the hospital and didn’t look at the statements carefully. When I did, I saw that a company had charged me for items I hadn’t ordered for several months. I had ordered something from them that was a one-time item, but they used my credit card information to charge me again.

I wrote a letter to the credit card company with “Credit Card Fraud Report” written in red on the envelope. In a few days, I received a letter from them saying they were investigating. To make a long story short, the charges were removed. I’m careful about reading statements now. — Carolyn McDonough, Canaan, Connecticut

HANDY RUBBER BAND

Dear Heloise: I like to keep a rubber band on the countertop so when I lay something down that has a mind of its own and wants to roll away, such as an egg or avocado, I lay it inside the rubber band. This corrals it and keeps it from rolling away. — Lyle Henry, Bluffton, Ohio

TWO-IN-ONE HINT

Dear Heloise: For removing garlic odor from fingers, I buy cheap plastic gloves (100 come in a box) and wear those when cutting onion and garlic, making bread, etc. That way, I can just take them off and discard them! So simple.

Also, opening cans with tabs is difficult for me, too. (I’m 84.) I have a pair of pliers that I keep inside my scissor drawer in my kitchen, and things like that become a whiz with pliers. Plus, it works for pulling back tabs to remove a tight-fitting lid on an object. Make it easy! — D.M., in California

EMERGENCY LIGHTS

Dear Heloise: The other night, we had a power outage due to a thunderstorm. Instead of using flashlights and candles (which can be dangerous), I went out and retrieved a half dozen solar-powered marker lights from the walkway and around the flower beds, and I placed them around the house. A couple were in the bathroom and the kitchen and such. It was enough light to see safely without having to worry about flames or dead batteries. — Chuck Stahl, Cortland, Ohio

Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001, or you can fax it to 1-210-HELOISE or email it to Heloise@Heloise.com.