After many years of fussing around with those flimsy domed trays, cell packs, and jiffy pots, and expensive full spectrum/hydroponic lights, I started reading and thinking!! I save money by not using starting flats. I start all my indoor seed (tomatoes,peppers, and some annuals & veggies) by placing them in folded coffee filters (they are stronger than paper towels), moistened with a weak solution of orange pekoe tea. They are stacked on an old pie plate over the heating vent in my dining room (instant heat mat). Once they germinate and have a fair-sized root on them, I transfer them to styrofoam cups (I re-use them), and place them under lights in my basement, until time for planting out. The lights are tied to existing shelving. Initially, I used expensive ($38.00) hydroponic lights, but found that regular fluorescent tubes from Home Depot worked just as well. Bits of styrofoam packaging under the trays keep the seedlings nearer the lights initilly. To prevent damping off and other fungi, a weak solution of chamomile tea, and watering from below seems to work. I found some really good trays (I don't know what they came from) at a Goodwill store which are sturdy and do not flop around like those regular gardening trays, which I find completey useless. I do shell out for seed starting mix especially for my indoor plants because I have had infestations of aphids that killed off entire sets of tomato seedlings, so I like everything to be sterile. Every now and then, a fan is used to strengthen the seedlings and also prevent any bugs which may be lurking to infect them, but I do not keep it running constantly. Perennials and hardier annuals get the winter sowing treatment. I also use seed starter, but the cheaper Walmart stuff, and I use (and re-cycle) 2-litre pop bottles for my containers (some stolen from neighbourhood blue boxes). Margarine and yogurt tubs are good for lettuces and petunias which do not grow very tall. A few years ago I purchased a 'Root Trainer' system which works very well, but is best if you are growing 20 seedlings of any one plant, which I never do. The cells are very deep, grooved to keep the roots contained and dircted downward, comes with a sturdy tray and dome. The cells come apart so there is no stress at transplant time. I used it last night for my peppers - a nice compact little system for about $12.00 designed to be re-used. That being said, every year I yearn for a heat mat so I can start my seeds in the basement. It's much too cold up here in March & April. I also yearn for one of those small green houses, but also, we go from winter to summer so it would not really be useful. Every summer, I'm glad I resisted the temptation. In reality, seed starting is forgotten once we get those little seedlings in the ground.

CEFreeman I am buying a Kohler Dickninson 33" single apron front basin sink color sandbar. This is a picture of my perimtier counters (Zodiac quartz) with the color of the sink tab on top, cabinet (off white color) sample and floor tile underneath. My island will be Bianco Antico on cherry. I ordered the sink Monday and was called today because they said it would be 4- weeks delivery time. Oh no no no! The girl called around and said now it will be 2-3 was that ok? Said yes because the white and bisque color sink I could get in 7 days did not look good with the Warm Taupe color quartz. Sandbar looked perfect. Now waiting for them to call with the estimate for the floor and counters. I was wondering what exactly the cabinet maker needs to make the cabinet below the sink. The place I am ordering everything from has the same sink in one of their kitchen displays. Can't he just go there to look at the sink? Someone said they are all different? They are? Shouldn't all the 33" DIckninson sinks measure the same???? This post was edited by sammy62 on Thu, Jan 23, 14 at 23:19

I went to a meeting where the featured speaker talked about "decluttering your life"...made me stop and think...and I am trying very hard not to buy on impulse...I have clothes in my closet that I have never worn. I was going to make a Christmas quilt and just "had" to have a quarter of a yard of every Christmas fabric that came along...the quilt never happened. I'm trying to say to myself..."Are you really going to use this?" before I purchase...it has helped some...still have too much clutter. And..after that meeting, I came home and got rid of some stuff that I hadn't used for over a year...then I needed something I had given away. When I die, my kids are just going to have to come in and clear it out, I guess. The speaker also said, when you put something in a drawer...take something "out" and get rid of it. I have been trying to do that...instead of just dragging more and more "stuff" in storing it...I think I'm getting a "little" better about it now that I have my mind on it...hope so...

This does not precisely answer your question ... but we chose not to spend the money on a built-in wine fridge on the new construction we just finished. It certainly was in the plans from the outset to be built into a hutch-style pantry cabinet. But, when all the appliance expenses started mounting, we decided just to continue to use the free-standing wine chiller that we already had. We have a rather large and funky shaped under-stairs closet immediately adjacent to the hutch cabinet, so we decided to stash the freestanding chiller in there and now we jokingly call the closet our "wine cellar." We drink a lot of wine, so having a chiller is a must for us, but we couldn't justify the expense of a built-in model. Another consideration for us was that we feared a wine chiller may be a dated look. The hutch is a beautiful piece in and of itself and we didn't want 15 years down the road to hear comments like, "Oh, what a shame ... that beautiful cabinet must have been built in the 2000s ... remember when everyone was putting in those wine fridges!" Good luck with your decision.