Dear Heloise: I am writing in response to Susan H., who said hat she would love it if manufacturers put the color navy or black on clothing tags. She can do this herself. Just take a fine-point permanent marker and put an “N” or a “B” on the clothing tag. Or she can buy very small blue and black safety pins to attach to the tag. She could also use blue and black clothes hangers.

She can do something similar with shoes by using a permanent marker or placing something navy or black inside the shoe. Just take it out when you wear it, then put it back in, or place it inside when you take them off. Or put them in a shoe rack and label the pocket or shelf that they are kept in. — Shelly L., in Ohio

LATE HOSPITAL BILLS

Dear Heloise: I wanted to write in regarding the recent question about hospital bills that were received two years after the hospitalization. Yes, the hospital must provide an itemized bill upon request and should have done so. If contacting the hospital administrator provides no relief, the reader should contact her state’s attorney general and the Division of Health and Human Services with her complaints.

She should also tell the hospital administrator that she will do so if she doesn’t promptly receive an itemized bill. It’s always best to give an actual date for a deadline, like one business week to receive these itemized bills. Then she must reconcile these itemized bills with her explanation of benefits (EOB) from her insurance company (if she has insurance) to know what she really owes.

The hospital may have an ombudsman who can help her with all of this. If not, once she has all the paperwork in hand, she may ask for assistance at her church or a senior center with someone like me who knows their way around all this paperwork. — J.D.W., in St. Louis

SPILLED WATER

Dear Heloise: I look for your column regularly in our local Times-Picayune in the New Orleans Advocate. My hint is about opening bottled water, specifically the individual ones in plastic.

Today the individual 17-ounce bottles of water seem to be packaged in thinner and thinner plastic. When opening one, we usually grasp the bottle around its middle with one hand; then while unscrewing the top with our other hand, our impulse is to squeeze the bottle, resulting in spilled water.

However, if you hold the base of the bottled water in a lightly cupped hand, then unscrew the top with the other hand, it usually results in no water spillage. — Pam C., in Covington, Louisiana

Pam, thanks for writing in, but a better way not to deal with this problem in the first place is to avoid using plastic bottles. There are many trendy water containers available nowadays that won’t harm our planet as much as plastic. — Heloise

WHEN MAKING LASAGNA

Dear Heloise: My husband is actually the chef in the family. I only make two meals: lasagna and chili. My boys always loved my lasagna, and when they moved away to college and were in an off-campus house, I would make the usual lasagna batch and put it into meatloaf tins.

The non-precook gluten-free ones were actually the perfect size for each layer. Since I didn’t have to cook them, it really decreased the prep time. I made sure that the top layer was well-coated with the sauce. I could make 4-5 meatloaf pans, cover them with foil, then put them in a freezer bag, and freeze them.

They were the perfect size for growing boys without them having to keep eating a full lasagna for an entire week! — Annette G., via email

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Heloise@Heloise.com