A nice "take with you to the garden" journal consists of using a recipe box (I prefer the 5"x8" size) and use two types of dividers (Alphabetical A-Z and Monthly Jan-Dec). I then file a card for each plant/tree/shrub by name of plant and also include plant detail/care/other information, where/when/price purchased, and where planted in the alabetical section. I also can place a photo protected by clear tape on the back of the card. In the monthly section, I file general cards noting "TO DO'S" that I would like to accomplish that month so I don't forget seasonal needs (fertilize, prune, etc). One could also add additional sets of alphabetal A-Z dividers in possibly different colors to use to further divide different groups (annuals, perennials, trees/shrubs, etc). You can also use the monthly section for other monthly reminders you may want to remember (birthdays, anniversaries, or special "to do" reminders). Hope this is helpful - Works for me!

help! i need to throw out tons of stuff like this, but i'm chicken. part of why i have tons of old papers is because i knew they needed to be shredded. but i took forever to buy one. now that i have one, shredding 7 pages of paper at a time is going to take forever. my mom gave me the solution--a roofing company near her "recycles" paper into their products. even the school system takes their sensitive "to be shredded" papers there for safe disposal, so i feel comfortable with that. the thought of getting rid of it all in one fell swoop REALLY appeals to me. now i just need to know what i can toss. i read the recommendations at the link above, but i'm always confused after reading those. or maybe i'm just chicken. i have utility bills from the apartment i lived in during 2001. i bought my house in 2002 and plan to be here for a while. can i get rid of the old bills? can i get rid of utility bills from my house? phone bills? can i toss anything more than a year old? what about credit card statements? i feel like i should keep those. i've never had more than 3 at a time, so it wouldn't be all that much paper. my tax stuff i know to keep. but everything to do with my taxes comes to me at the end of the year and i keep that all together. then there's the health insurance stuff. i've been through five different companies since 2000, what with being a student and then a university employee--the university switched nearly every year for a while. do i have to keep all of that stuff? for instance, i went to a chiropractor at least three times a week for a while. after EACH visit, my insurance company would send me paperwork, "just for reference." how much of that crap should i keep? all of the paper they send me really makes me want to scream! sorry, i just realized my questions turned into a mini-rant. thanks for letting me spout off. :) any advice would be greatly appreciated! thanks! julie

Shrink wrapped is not the same as vacuum sealed. Store chickens in trays are shrink wrapped and that's not good for freezing. I wouldn't want to keep them 12 months unless they were vacuum sealed and a good hard freeze and they'll probably still degrade a bit so it depends on how much you'll accept. They will not be like fresh. And to try to keep them that long, I'd also either wrap in foil or an extra freezer bag. Make sure your freezer is at a proper freezer temp.

My dad has every bill, credit card, receipt, and pay stub since my parents got married in 1971. We have always picked on him but he still hangs on to all the nicely inventoried boxes. When he retired in 1999, the GA Teacher Retirement System could not pull up their old system showing he had worked for another university in the 1970's. They basically told him that since they didn't have a record then he couldn't claim the time. He asked if his "severance letter" would serve as proof, they said yes, if you still had it. He promptly went home and pulled it out of the box and took it back up there... got his extra vacation/sick time he lost when he left that original position and happily retired. After moving 6 times in 10 years (only moved 4 times in the first 27 years of my life!), I made drastic cuts in the amount of paper I keep. I now scan tax forms and W2s into the computer. Bill are shredded after I get the next one. Mortgage, car payments, paystubs, and credit card paperwork are all electronic- I download them into the computer and save another copy on a CD. Home purchase papers are scanned in and kept electronically... AFTER we no longer have the house, I shred the paper copy. Insurance papers are scanned in or an electronic copy is downloaded. Any other important papers are scanned and kept electronically.