Hello again, savvy savers! With Spring slowly winding up around us, many stores are drastically dropping the prices of seed packets (the Dollar Tree currently has seed packets for $0.05 per packet in my area),to cash in on pre-Spring sales, and this is the time to procure the majority of your garden seeds for the 2015 Spring Summer, and Later Summer/Fall Planting Seasons. So I thought this would be a great time to discuss one of my primary means to organize my seed packets at home! I use the binder method, similar to what I would use to combine coupons. I find that binding my seed packets makes for easier planting, storage, and accessibility.
Here’s how I do it:
Materials Needed:
- A Spacious Binder; 3″ at a minimum.
- Playing card sleeves; you can purchase there in packs of 10 at the Dollar Tree.
- Currency Sleeves; you can purchase them cheaper than office supply store through Amazon for under $6.00.
- Tab dividers and Page sleeves; optional.
- Seed packets.
- Freezer.
Instructions:
- Taking a seed packet, fold the back 1.25 inches into itself, so that the fold of the packet falls just above the front banner of the packet; see photo above.
- Place seed packets, with the name and homogeneous name of each seed facing up.
- Divide seeds from flowers.
- For a more organized binder, use tabs to divide seeds according to the months they should be planted; I follow my local Farmer’s Almanac which can be purchased at your local Dollar Tree.
- For larger seed packets, a small piece of scotch tape can seal each slot.
- Store your binder away from pets, on shelves, out of direct sunlight, moisture, or air fresheners.
- For long-term storage, freeze your binder in a deep freeze; this maximizes seed life by as much as four years per packet.
- Enjoy!
Here’s to being organized!
