DEAR HELOISE: These awful, tiny, biting, reddish insects ...

... create a huge mess and plenty of distress in your house. The minute that you see bedbugs, you need to act. Take these three steps right away. 1. Search the affected areas closely to see where they are coming in and where they are in the room. Then clean, disinfect and get rid of them. Closely examine your bed and bedroom. Wash linens, bedding, curtains and clothing in the hottest water safe for the fabric and dry at a high temperature. 2. Vacuum everything — the bed area, floors, carpets, baseboards, furniture and bed frame. These nasty insects hide and nest in the tiniest places, like seams, tufts and folds or in piles of clutter in the bedroom. To flush them out, point a hair dryer on hot toward the area where you have seen them. Then you can kill them. 3. If the infestation is overwhelming, call a professional to get rid of them. Your mattress should be steam-cleaned, or you might have to throw it out. And pesticides might have to be used for total bedbug removal. 4. To prevent this problem, get rid of the clutter in your bedroom and elsewhere, so they won't have a place to hide and thrive. - Heloise Dear Readers: When you bring vegetables or fruits home from the supermarket, it's best to eat them within a couple of days. But if you can't, store them properly in the refrigerator. Place veggies in the fridge in perforated plastic bags. Use the crisper drawers to keep them moist. Adjust the humidity controls in the drawer. Store fruits and veggies separately. Potatoes, onions and tomatoes shouldn't be kept in the fridge. - Heloise Dear Readers: Plastic baby toys need to be sanitized often, depending on use. As we know, they most likely will end up in your baby's mouth, so you want them to be clean. First, wash plastic toys in hot, soapy water. Then allow them to soak in a mixture of ¼ cup of bleach with 1 gallon of water for around 5 minutes. Rinse thoroughly and air-dry. Don't use the solution on toys that have metal parts, because the bleach may cause them to corrode. - Heloise Dear Readers: Our clay pots might have become bleached out and look white and awful. This might be because of hard water, lime or calcium. You can clean them up to make them look better. Scrub the clay with a plastic brush and white vinegar. Then wipe off the pot with water and dry. When all the crud is gone, wipe the pot with a light coat of mineral oil. - Heloise Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001, or you can fax it to 1-210-HELOISE or email it to Heloise@Heloise.com