Don't know if anyone is still following this thread. But I've gotten some good ideas. I started organizing my gardening stuff about 3 years ago.....out of necessity. I am forgetful. And I got sick and tired of having to stop, go back in the house get on the computer and look up stuff. So now I have one notebook where I keep general info like instructions on pruning and dividing perennials, fertilizing lawns, and clever ideas I see in garden magazines, just anything rather general. I have another notebook where there is a page for each plant that contains a picture and growing info, and a description of a location. In that notebook I also have a bar graph type chart of bloom times for the different plants in my yard. That let me see at a glance that I needed to plant something to bloom at a specific time of year. I also have started working on putting photos in there taking of different section of the garden on the first of each month. I also have made a rather detailed chart of actual locations of my plants that shows me how large the plant will eventually grow. It's not that I am organized, it's that I was driving myself crazy with forgetting information. I've also got a sheet in there to tell me what has to be pruned in the spring, summer, or deadheaded during the year, or cut back in the winter. I've also started a diagram to show where the shade/sun is in my yard during the year....again this is out of desperation because my tree is growing and I'm trying to figure out where it is a good idea to put another raised bed for veges. Along with this I am keeping a very simple journal where I just jot down info like when did I fertilize, what did I use, where I had a problem develop and what I think caused it, I'll note what plant I might want to rip out and what I might want to replace it with, what needs to be moved, general info on the rain (lots or little) and if the temps were unusual, when the hummers showed up. I'm actually pretty surprised at how incredibly useful the info is to me the next year. And I really wish I had started this many years ago. The two notebooks are something that basically only I work on in the winter when I can't be outside gardening. It keeps my mind going! And by the way, I'm not normally a terribly organized person by any stretch of definition, so this all surprises me. I think every person has to find the method that works for their own unique way of thinking. I don't think I could buy something someone else had developed and have it work for me. If I did I would end up giving up on it pretty quickly. dell

I am extremely security conscious obviously, I use hard nonsense passwords and rarely ever use the same password for anything , for security sensitive sites I never use the same and always use hardened password. I have one notebook I keep everything written down in, I keep it in a secure locked location, I do NOT put them on my pc and NEVER in my email account if your email is hacked they have access to every single one of your accounts and passwords that is the biggest no no of them all because email accounts are so easily hacked these days. For those doing that I urge you to reconsider!!! If someone manages to break into my house past me and my husband and dogs and our weapons and manage to steal my computers and also find the locked location of my password book and break into that and find that particular notebook then they can have it because I will be cold and dead by then. And I would imagine they will be shedding a little blood too. The only other location is in a lock drawer in a completely separate location, not in my home, in case of a fire or catastrophe here. I never allow the browser to remember passwords and never ever keep any type of password or registration info in my email since email is so insecure.

OK. One day, I'm walking out of Kohls toward the car (mini-van with roof rack) and from afar, I see something on the roof of the car. Unbelievably, it is my son's game system. Kohls is about seven twisty miles from my driveway. I was astonished that it survived the road trip (and it could have been taken while in Kohls). I was telling my son how lucky and irresponsible he was when it was revealed that it was his older sister who put it there the day before! (She got sidetracked when getting out of the car and put it there "temporarily") But I digress. Well. I'm embarrassed to report that I never really followed through on this "project". The portable game systems, games, accessories etc. have always been stored in a bin near the back door to grab and go on the way out (since these are typically only used in the car and sometimes brought to a friend's house.) Years ago, I bought these great little colorful individual game cases, labeled each case so we would know which games were "in use". That system didn't last because more often than not, the game was not returned to its case and so the bin ended up containing empty cases and game cartridges along with all of the other paraphernalia. Tried to keep an inventory in our household notebook and on my Palm pilot, but it never seemed to be updated. DS and I put them all into trading card sleeves and into a binder - but they fell out easily. So, after reading Talley Sue's comments about "Chore Clutter" we tossed them all into a small zip-lock bag. Easy to see contents and easy to transport, also easy to return cartridges to a single bag. It was working quite nicely...all contained in the plastic bin with the system and other accessories. Then finally, I saw a terrific solution! A friend's daughter had the greatest little accessory, made for these tiny game cartridges. Each game cartridge had clear-sturdy tabs, adhesively attached to them. These tabs had a small hole and each game was threaded through a key-ring. Then, the key-ring was able to attach to the actual system. I thought it was pure genius! I immediately asked where it was obtained, but my friend could not recall...thought maybe it was an add-on promotion type thing to another related purchase. And I've google-searched it with no results :-( And now the Zip-lock bag full of cartridges is missing in action :-( It will turn up, I'm sure -- might be shoved in a pocket of a jacket -- or under the seat of the car -- but when it does, we definitely need to revisit the notion of a better system. Having them all together means they get lost all together, and it's quite the investment to lose! (That's the only drawback to my friend's key ring system -- losing the system AND the games! But my son is very protective of the game system itself, and has NEVER lost it. He did make the mistake of letting his sister use it :::ahem:::) We will have to establish a rule of carrying only so many at a time. Perhaps I will have to hold onto them and have my son "check them out" like at a library. This is not something I really wanted to police, but maybe it is necessary. I will keep an eye on this thread -- thanks for the input everyone! Maura :-)

vala55, I second what chi83 suggested--Ever Clean is the best litter at eliminating odors (that I've used for our cats). We use the ES (extra strength) since it is made for multi-cat households (have/have had 2 cats). Other litters we'd tried; Pet Gold (sold at Petco), Tidy Cat (w/ w/out crystals), and prob a few others, just did not do a good job at eliminating odors. We NEVER smell cat pee with the Ever Clean. If one of the cats has just pooped, you will prob smell that (if you walk into the room with the litter box, not throughout the house), but the Ever Clean usually eliminates that smell fairly quickly. We scoop twice a day (though sometimes once a day), so the box might not smell clean if it's "full" but again, that's only if you lift off the lid and stand right over the box (we use a covered Booda dome, which might help with containing any unabsorbed odor). Even our non-cat owning/loving friends have commented on the fact that our house NEVER smells like cat, that you wouldn't know we had cats if you didn't see them. The only gripe I have, is that boxes of the unscented version are sometimes plenty scented/perfumed, and our cats then smell like perfume after using the litter box.