The Many Benefits of... Greeting Cards

Greeting cards have many benefits.  You can use them to cheer up a friend, make relationships stronger, keep in touch with relatives and friends, keep your own spirits bright, and remind others and yourself of special days throughout the year.  With extended families and the many holidays, it can be quite a task to keep greeting cards in check and in order.  Here are a few tips to get you off to using greeting cards efficiently and effectively.

Tip #1: Get a collection going.  Collect greeting cards for all holidays, events, and any occassion.  This is easiest done by finding a box of assorted greeting cards.  You can get these at hobby stores, bookstores, and of course online.  Start building a small collection that you can draw upon all year.

Tip #2: Organize your collection.  Organize your greeting cards by months.  If a month has birthdays, holidays, or special events, put a card from each of those categories in that months designated spot.  I use an expandable folder to keep all of my greeting cards organized.  I have it first divided into the twelve months.  Then I have categories, like holidays, birthdays, and other occassions.  If I have an unplanned event, then I can just draw from the other categories behind the months.  However, the ones that I know are coming up are already in their designated month section.

Tip #3: Pre-stamp all of your greeting cards.  I buy forever stamps from the post office and all of my planned greeting cards, at the beginning of the year, are stamped already.  This saves time later.

Tip #4: Keep an event calendar.  I have one calendar in my "Home Notebook" binder that is designated for events like birthdays, weddings, baby due dates (or showers), holidays, and anniversaries.

Tip #5: Keep a contact list.  Along with my event calendar, I have a contact list that I keep a running list of names, addresses, and phone numbers to keep track of the many people that need to be sent greeting cards throughout the year.  I try to update this whenever possible.

Tip #6: If you don't mind not being creative, it is a good idea to get a list of general sayings and words of encouragement for different holidays, this too can be found on the internet with minimal searching.

Tip #7: When you make your daily to-do list, make sure to check your calendar.  Keeping track of sending cards can be one of the hardest details. A daily to-do list, solves this problem.  Set aside five minutes each night to check calendars and coordinate events for each day so you don't find yourself accidentally forgetting that important person.