Converting server to allow Apache write access to certain directories, does this solution look right?

I've been at this all day and think I finally figured it out, but want to make sure before I put it into production. I'm changing my server to allow the apache:apache user write permission on a few directories. I'm the only user jeff:jeff on the server. My directory structure looks something like this:

/home/jeff/www/                       0755 jeff:jeff
/home/jeff/www/example1.com/          0755 jeff:jeff
/home/jeff/www/example2.com/          0755 jeff:jeff
/home/jeff/www/example2.com/uploads/  0755 apache:apache

**The problem is:** I run chmod apache:apache uploads/ to allow apache write access. Whenever I want to edit a file in uploads/ via sftp, I have to chown it back to jeff:jeff, then reverse when I'm done. **My preliminary solution is:** - Add apache user to jeff group - Give jeff group write permission on uploads/ dir via manual chmod 775 - Force apache user to create any new files + folders + subfolders as apache:jeff. Requires setgid 2775 on uploads/ dir - Force apache user to create any new files + folders + subfolders with umask 002 = 775 via [systemd](https://stackoverflow.com/a/31154944/142233) I'm only about 50% sure I've got all this right. Does it sound okay? Is there a better way? Did I miss anything? **With Jim's help, here is the final solution I used:** For my reference.

# usermod --append --groups apache jeff

> Relogin all sessions

# chown -R apache:apache www/example.com/uploads/
# find www/example.com/uploads/ -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \;
# find www/example.com/uploads/ -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;

# systemctl edit --full php.service

-----------
[Service]
UMask=0002
-----------

# systemctl daemon-reload
# systemctl restart php

WordPress users will want to add this to their wp-config.php:

define('FS_CHMOD_DIR', 0775);
define('FS_CHMOD_FILE', 0664);