I keep my seeds in plastic food storage containers. Now it's up to three containers. I file the seeds alphabetically, like old library card catalogues. I store them in a cool part of my house, which stays at fridge temperatures in winter, and cool room temperature most of the year, and warm for a month or two. They stay good and viable for several years. My own collected seeds, I used to keep in paper envelopes I'd fold myself from waste paper. Last year I finally bought small plastic zip seal bags. I dry my collected seeds for a few weeks before putting them in plastic. Basically in late summer, my house has plates and bowls of drying seeds perched on every available surface. I love sharing seeds with others. Home-collected seeds are so abundant, and in my experience often have much better germination rates than purchased packets. So, since last year, I've starting saving the well-dried seeds in tiny zip bags (about 1x1.5 inch), several of these inside a larger zip bag (2x3 inches). I jot the variety name and year of collection on little rectangles of paper and put these inside each small bag. This way if a friend expresses interest in seeds, I have small labelled bags ready to give away. It also means that when I want to plant, I can pull out a small bag of seeds and don't have to expose the rest of the stored seeds to summer heat and humidity while I get around to sowing and putting the unplanted portion back. When one variety of seeds I collected is a really large volume, I do put it into a reused jar (after drying well for a few weeks, of course). But then the random jars tend to get lost, so I'm trying to move all seeds into flat packs in my alphabetized plastic boxes. Home collected seeds that have been doing great for me: * Cherry tomatoes and open-pollinated tomatoes (tomatoes tend to self-pollinate so they're easy to save). I still buy some hybrid varieties like Sungold, but those seeds last for years so I don't buy new every year. * Lettuce. Each year, or at different times with a year, I let one variety that I like go to seed, and save those seeds. They produce lots and last for years so this works well for me. I've also done two varieties of spinach now, in two different years. * Arugula/rocket (Eruca). This bolts so fast and sets seed so fast, that it's really easy. And there aren't significantly different varieties to worry about. The volunteer self-seeded plants are also useful. * Winter squash of the Cucurbita maxima species. Another very easy one to save. Even if it were to cross-pollinate with a neighbor's C. maxima, they are all edible winter squash so the result would be very likely good. I don't have any neighbors growing this species so I have no worries. The seeds last for many years, so when I have grown different varieties that I don't want crosses from, then the next year I just replant the seed from a previous year that I know I liked. * Flowers and herbs like marigold, bachelors buttons/ cornflower, cosmos, poppies, edible chrysanthemum, nasturtium, zinnia, dragonhead, hollyhocks, summer savory, cilantro/coriander, basil, anise hyssop, fennel, perennial scallions, orach, etc. Very easy. I stick to one variety of each species so that I can save seeds, and/or let a few of their self-seeded volunteers grow. I do try to deadhead the spent flowers as much as possible, but by late summer they get past me and then I collect seeds.

JJ, when you put the photos into a different format and when you singled out the photos, they came into focus for others. That is one of the values that you get from both culling out the insignificant ones and organizing the reamaining ones. The importance or the significance of what is left comes into much sharper focus. I am in the middle of culling and organizing our photos and I it has become evident to me that much value and appreciation is stuck in oblivion when the photos are a mess in boxes. They must be curated and organized to tell the story. If not, they are like a bowl of alphabet soup with letters that don't spell anything. I had started a post about organizing photos, if you are interested. One example is that we had a box of photos that FIL had brought home from WWII. They had been languishing in a box that was casually shoved into a drawer and mostly forgotten about. I took them and put then into a small book and placed the book on the dining table. Hubs picks it up and finds himself absolutely drawn into them as if he is seeing them for the first time. That is not the case, He knew about them. He had just forgotten about them because they have been hidden in a drawer in a box for so long. After composing them in a book and noting the inscriptions that FIL wrote on the back, they have become a personal story of a young man who turned 19 years old and arrived for D Day one day later. He was but a boy when he went to be a part of a tank crew in Europe. This is his story and now it has been revealed for us to share. I think that it is priceless and to think that it lingered untold for so long. He told us his story and we just relegated it to a hidden box. I find that to be rather sad in retrospect. In organizing our photos, I have gained and experienced some revelations and realizations of who and where we have come from and who lurks in the heritage of my grand children. Life's moments and lives that have gone have come forward and I am truly enjoying the journey. It is important to cull out the debris so that you can see the value of what you have. I have yet to discard the rejects. They will get one more pass through before they go out. In my estimation, I have rejected somewhere around one third of what was being kept.maybe a bit more than that. Now, the remaining ones are being divided into two collections, one for each of our grown children. I plan to keep none for us. I want to hand them down to my kids in a format that they can be seen in. I don't want to pass down a mess of stuff that has no voice. After the photos are taken care of, I plan to include some genealogy documents in the pages. It seems a perfect compliment to the photos and will explain some of them. I have also made sure that the kids have all the information that they need after I am gone and not have to go searching for bank accounts, revolving charges on credit cards or any of the stuff that they are going to need to know. I even have a document of all my passwords for any forum or bank account, etc.

Ugh! I ”lost” several sweaters a few years ago. I finally figured out that I must have thought one of my ”winter clothes” boxes was a ”goodwill” box. So I basically donated some of my favorite sweaters (including cashmere, Eileen Fisher, etc) to goodwill. At the other extreme, I just FOUND two nice sweaters that had been hidden in a bag that was supposed to go to the dry cleaner back in March 2020. Instead they sat on the floor of DH’s closet until a week ago.

Hi! I’m currently in college and will be moving into my first apartment. the bathroom is fairly small, but i’m looking to make it cozier. I am looking for decor advice as well as any organizational recommendations to keep the space open and cute. I have attached an image of the bathroom and my current plans for it, which are pretty plain for now.