Organizing Seeds??

How do you all organize your seeds? I have an addiction to buying seeds and it's getting a bit hard to find the ones I want to plant when I want them. Right now, I have a cardboard box(that's falling apart btw), full of seed packets. A while back I at least separated like kinds into plastic zip-locks but as I've gone through them, that system as failed miserably because I can never find the original bag to replace the seeds packets I didn't use when I took them out. It's a mess...

I was hoping there would be something simple on Amazon but apparently the only thing they have are super expensive decorative boxes. I was thinking of just getting an index card holder but I figured I would see what you guys do first. I would love pictures!

I use a accordion file folder and divided it into two sections:  1) Vegetables 2) flowers;  I labeled each tab alphabetically using one tab for 3 letters of the alphabet. It is similar to this one:

Smead File Folder

You might enjoy this thread:

permies.com/Organizing-seeds-planning-planting

I also have seeds in the freezer in doubled ziplock bags.

I picked up a could of these art bins on a good sale at a craft store to keep my seeds in.  

https://smile.amazon.com/ArtBin-Super-Semi-Satchel-Storage-6925AB/dp/B005S30U7C/ref=sr_1_30?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1475108330&sr=1-30&keywords=art+bin

As I am a seedaholic, (I own more than 850 different seeds), I went through several systems...
The last one is several wooden boxes tailored to my seeds packets size, and ordered by latin name.
Each and every packet I buy or get is opened and transfered into one of my a4-based paper packet.

Whatever you do just make sure it is completely mouse proof. My Mother recently lost all her seeds, that were stored in wooden drawers, to mice.

It was quite amazing, the mice went in to every single seed packet to eat the seeds. Although they apparently didn't fancy beans, maybe they were too full from the rest of the seeds.

Oh Matthew, what a graphic photo.
Yes.  Mice/rats are experts at finding such treasures.

Oh wow! Looks like they had a feast! I never even thought of that! I would be devastated...

Thank you everyone for the ideas! I'll try to post pictures of what I end up coming up with...If I can remember...

I'm using a metal dresser with 4 big draws.
2 families/drawer is my plan so finding and putting back should be easy. I do have to work a bit on the mice proofing.
System is not perfect yet as the bikes are stored in front so the lower drawers are harder to get by fast :p

every drawer contains 2 boxes, one for every plant family. My rotation in the kitchen garden is 8years for 8 plantfamilies.

And than a big box (mouse proof I hope) for everything I do not consider annual veg seeds or stuff I don't know if I'll grow it.

I have been using a cardboard box with dividers and little packs, but as I have been growing, I am now moving to jars and going to be constructing a shelf. I am also moving from pure-bred heirloom varieties to the Permiscuously Pollinated model I learned on the forums here. This way I don't have 300 little seed packs, I have 80 (or whatever it happens to be I pick up) and those seed that like genetic variety to produce strong will get it. The little bottles come from a dietitian or something via a friend who does aromatherapy blends and sometimes has extra. Or, finished jelly jars or yeast jars. Or, for beans and such- pasta jars. The important thing with these jars is making sure things are dry enough they won't go bad.

Matthew Bloomfield wrote:My Mother recently lost all her seeds, that were stored in wooden drawers, to mice.

What a nightmare!  But thank you for sharing that photo as a warning to us all.

Joseph Lofthouse uses a lot of glass jars:



I recently picked up a shopping bag full of glass baby food jars at a garage sale; they are coming in very handy.  (Funny story: I asked the woman what she wanted for the bag of jars, and she said "Oh, I guess a dollar" and as I said "sold" a woman nearby exclaimed "Oh, I want those too!"  Too late... )

I just ordered 100 heavy paper manila "key envelopes" (the little ones) to start putting a bunch of my little collections of saved seed in; many of these are currently in odd places like stacking screw-top pill containers that are hard to see and hard to label, so I want to consolidate.  And as for organizing my seed packets (both purchased and saved) this latest find from a garage sale "free" box should come in handy.  Ugly, but handy: