I have several of the smaller bottles of Elmer's Washable School Glue and it is as perfect as the day I bought it. With larger gallon jugs I have purchased, keep the lid tight and store it in a cool dry place kept the large jugs in good shape but I buy the little one now because it is less hassle and I am not one that likes to play around with things anymore than I have to. Oh yeah. The larger ones I would share with my sisters and another Quilter and those bottles were used up in a year. My supply of the smaller bottles is about 2 years old and I still have 9 bottles. I bought them on sale before school started 2 yrs. ago for 25 cents a bottle. I bought everything they had that day. I was very excited.