Dear Mary: There appears to be an increasing number of companies offering protection from identity theft. Is this worth consideration, or is it just another scheme to get into a person's wallet? — Homer L., e-mail

Dear Homer: I am familiar with one company that offers identity theft service, LifeLock, which I have found to be reputable and which provides an excellent service for people who need it. You may or may not be one who needs help with protecting your identity from thieves hoping to steal your private information.

Identity theft has been identified by the Federal Trade Commission as the No. 1 consumer crime in the U.S. They estimate that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year. There are many things you as a wise consumer can do to protect your privacy, your credit and your good name, and you should be doing them. Visit the FTC's Web site (www.ftc.gov), and click "Avoid Identity Theft" to learn more.

There is no doubt that you easily can do for yourself all of the things that you can hire LifeLock to do. To me, it's like maintaining a car. If you have the time, the tools and the place to do it, you can save money by changing your own oil and doing other routine maintenance.

But for many of us, it's most cost effective to have a professional change the oil on a regular schedule. If you have the time and diligence to monitor your credit carefully and guard your identity, save your money because this is something you can do yourself.

However if you need professional help with security, your identity and private information because you have a very busy schedule, LifeLock's service is worth consideration. You can get a 20 percent discount on a year's subscription to the service when you use the code DPL at www.LifeLock.com.

Dear Mary: How do you remove hard water spots from your outside windows? — Elsie, e-mail

Dear Elsie: Clean the windows with a mixture of one cup of white vinegar and one gallon of hot water. If that does not remove the hard water marks, I'm afraid those minerals left from hard water, together with the power of the sun, over time have etched the glass permanently. The only way to fix this problem would be to replace the glass. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the vinegar will do the trick!

Do you have a question for Mary? E-mail her at [email protected], or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com and author of 17 books, including "Debt-Proof Living." To find out more about Mary and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.