Hooray for Organization!

Each year during the last week of December I prep my new planner for the next year.  I like to look back on the events I attended, the appointments I made, and the copious amounts of notes I took on various subjects that warranted a place in my book.  I also go month to month and transfer over everyone’s birthdays and mark holidays.

It’s usually at this time I realize that I have to get birthday cards out for those last end-of-the-year birthdays and I sigh a disappointed sigh when it becomes clear that I didn’t send out nearly as many cards and thoughtful notes as I intended it.  It’s at this point that I also prep all of my January birthday cards for mailing in an effort to get a jump-start.  Sadly, I think that only the late December, January, and possibly February birthdays get cards from me.  That is unless I attend a birthday party to which I always bring a card.

I decided this year would be different.  I was determined to find a way to organize myself to ensure that everyone that I care about at least gets a warm birthday wish in 2010.  So, I started looking up greeting card organizers and all I could find were cheesy, grandma-inspired boxes to store a year’s worth of cards in.  I couldn’t be the only youthful person with a need to organize birthday cards, could?  Well, now that I think of it… maybe I am.

Well, based on the amount of money I was willing to spend on this little passion project and my hard and fast rule on not buying anything I would be ashamed to walk around carrying, I decided on a simple, fuchsia accordion file.  It is divided into twelve sections with tabs signifying each month of the year.  I got home early on NYE and decided to spend a couple hours filling the file with cards.  I made address labels in sequential order of birthdays, affixed them to an envelope, and placed a card ready to be filled out inside, then popped them into the month it will need to be mailed in order to reach the birthday-reveler in time.  Forty-five cards later I now feel confident that everyone will have a little something in the mail for them come their annual day of aging.  =)

Those few hours spent getting together my super-happy-fun card organizer works twofold for me.  Two of my resolutions are keeping myself better organized (yes, I do believe it’s possible!) and to be more thoughtful in the new year.

What is your favorite way to let people know you are thinking of them?