Dear Heloise: I just found a way to use the address labels that nonprofits send you for donating to their charities. I recently moved to a retirement village and had to change my address. Since I don’t write many checks, I failed to realize that I still had lots of preprinted checks that list my old address on the front. To eliminate the time and charge for printing another set of checks that list my current/correct address, I merely covered the old checks with one of those address labels. — Cookie, via email

DRYER SHEET USE

Dear Heloise: I love your column of hints. I’ve been reading it for years in the Staten Island Advance. I’ve seen many hints for dryer sheets, but this is my use for them:

I save them as they come out of a dryer load. Then, when I remove the lint from the lint screen for the next load, I easily wipe the screen with the used sheet and toss it in the garbage pail next to my dryer. I’ve been doing this for years. — Elaine Cohen, Staten Island, New York

KITCHEN WASTE

Dear Heloise: I recently read a hint from J.P.J., in California, about using plastic bags to collect meat waste for the trash. I save a few zip-close bags from grocery products in one shelf of my freezer for this purpose. As I produce such waste in my kitchen, it goes into one of these bags from meatballs or whatever, keeping our kitchen odor-free. Nothing smells bad when it’s frozen.

When it’s filled, it goes out on trash day. Sometime over the summer, I fold and save a larger bag for the turkey waste I know is coming. — Kathy Dickey., in St. Louis

FINGERNAIL BITING

Dear Heloise: I would like to respond to Cynthia P., in Delaware, about fingernail biting. I, too, used to bite my nails constantly. They were bitten down past the quick and really ugly. I tried to quit but was unable to do it because most of the time, I had no clue that my fingers were in my mouth. And the nasty-tasting stuff that I bought in the store didn’t work because the bad taste didn’t bother me.

My husband didn’t really nag me about my nails, but I knew that they bothered him a lot. So, I finally decided to do something about it. I decided to quit one nail at a time. I would go ahead and bite my nails all except for one. Once this nail was long and pretty-looking, I quit biting another, then another, until I finally had quit altogether.

It took a long time, but it was worth it. I now have nice-looking nails, and they aren’t fake! I am in my 70s, and I was in my late 30s when I quit biting my nails. — Karen Mack, Bella Vista, Arkansas

BLOOD MARY

Dear Heloise: I use canned tomatoes for my salads when fresh ones aren’t available, but inevitably, juice remains after I’ve exhausted the meat. Rather than let it go to waste, I grind some celery seed and add the juice, as well as a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a shot of vodka for a delicious Bloody Mary. Love your column! — Grandma Grace, via email

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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.