Cultured marble durable, but not indestructible

Dear Heloise: I recently moved to a house with cultured marble counters. How do I take care of them? I don’t want to do anything damaging without knowing. Thanks for your help! — Mark in Wisconsin

Dear Mark: Great question! Cultured marble is not really marble, but is man-made to look like the real thing. It is pretty durable, but it does need to be taken care of. Here are some hints on how to do that:

Never put anything hot directly on a counter. No hot pans, curling irons, etc. It might hurt the finish.

Use nonabrasive cleaners, or baking soda and water. Never use abrasive cleaners, like scouring powder, because they may mar the surface.

Liquids like bleach or nail-polish remover can hurt it, so use caution.

Small scratches can be “filled in,” so go to a home-improvement store for the right product to fix the problem. — Heloise

SMELLY GARBAGE

Dear Heloise: We walk our two schnauzers three times a day and always come home with a poop bag. Garbage is picked up twice a week, and storing the poop bags was pretty stinky. So, we got a plastic container with a tight lid and added about an inch of kitty litter in the bottom. Come garbage day, we dump the whole thing into our garbage bag, refill the kitty litter, and we are good to go until the next garbage day. — Christine W., via email

BOTTOM OF THE JAR

Dear Heloise: I hate trying to scrape the bottom of a jar to get the last bit of contents out, but I hate wasting it more. I now store almost-empty jars of mayonnaise, mustard, etc., on their sides. It makes getting to that last bit so much easier, and my hand isn’t covered from sticking it way down in the jar. — A Reader, via email

Hints from Heloise is syndicated by King Features Syndicate. Send great hints to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000; by fax, 210-HELOISE (435-6473); or by email, Heloise@Heloise.com.