I think Heloise's "hints" can be a real disservice. I used to read the
feature for comic relief, as readers suggested weird new uses for
household objects, etc. Once "Heloise" suggested storing your family
photographs in cardboard tubes from paper towels, which I thought was
one of the dumbest things I've ever heard because (a) it would require
more space than flat storage for the same number of items, and (b) it
would be a pain to remove the prints from the tubes for viewing-- quite
aside from the obvious conservation concerns of curling photographs that
don't need to be curled and using acidic paper and cardboard to store
photographs. I actually wrote a letter complaining about this, since
"Heloise" occasionally publishes readers' comments about past hints (no,
it wasn't published). --David Haberstich