Dear Heloise: Any ideas on how to turn leftover soap chips into a new usable bar? I hate to just throw them away if there's a way to reuse them. I love your column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch!

-Nita S., via email

Nita, here are some ideas:

• Using old but clean pantyhose, place a handful of soap chips in the foot area, then tie it off and trim off the excess pantyhose. Instead of using a washcloth, you can use your new scrubber to wash yourself. Let it dry completely between uses.

• Gather all the soap chips in a pan and add just enough water to make a thick mixture. Turn the burner to medium. Stir well until it gets hard and remove from the stove. When the mixture starts to cool and is safe to handle (but still warm to the touch), roll the mixture in your hands to form a ball, or press it into pastry molds. Let it dry completely.

• Take all the soap chips and place them in a small glass or ceramic bowl. If your husband shaves with a razor, he can wet his brush and lather the soap up by swirling his shaving brush over the chips, which will start to form one soap bar. Nothing's wasted with this method.

-- Heloise

CUTTING BATTERIES OUT

Dear Heloise: To open the childproof packages of hearing-aid batteries, I've found that what works best for me and protects my hands is to use kitchen shears that are strong enough to cut up a chicken. I simply cut completely around the plastic sleeve that contains the batteries, then remove them and transfer them to another container. Be sure to cut really close to the batteries to expose them.

-- Brenda C., via email

TOWEL DILEMMAS

Dear Heloise: Perhaps you can solve a mystery for me. For years, the regular method of drying towels and keeping them soft was to use a dryer sheet. Now it seems that this doesn't do any good, since the dryer sheets leave a film on the towels that makes them less absorbent.

After doing a bit of research, I came up with the idea of washing towels in hot water and vinegar to strip away the film that's even on brand-new towels.

This was great, but now the towels are scratchy. Help! Any suggestions from you and your readers about the best way to keep some softness and also keep towels absorbent?

-- Bobbie F., via email

Bobbie, try washing the towels with less detergent. You might want to use one of those laundry soap sheets (only one per load).

Then use a couple of wool dryer balls (which are sold at grocery stores) instead of dryer sheets.

People used to take towels outside and give them a good snap a couple of times to help loosen up the fibers. See if this helps.

-- Heloise

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