WFMW: How to never forget a birthday card again

This year one of my New Year's resolutions was to take advantage of greeting cards to stay in touch with family and friends. I wanted to never again realize that it was one of my nephew's birthdays and that I hadn't remembered to send a card. It's such a SIMPLE thing, but something that can mean so much. We're always saying, "It's the thought that counts." Well, forgetting until AFTER a birthday or never sending a "congratulations on your new baby" card to a college friend is not the way to build strong bonds and keep long distance friendships.

So this year, I vowed to do better. And so far, I'm on target 100%.

I'll tell you my little secret. Come closer...here's a peek

(I just covered the address with a sticky note. I thought they might not appreciate me blabbing their address to whomever might read this blog!)

I have an index card for each month with all the important "greeting card" dates. The last week of each month, on errand day I make a trip to the Dollar Tree where you can get cards on the cheap. They have a great selection too! With index card in hand, I can choose a greeting card for each occasion.

When I get home, I go ahead and sign and address all the cards at once. Then, I put them in my bill folder which is divided up into weeks. Each Friday, when I do bills, I can mail the appropriate card for the following week, so that I will never have to call my nephew again and tell him, "hey kiddo, sorry I didn't get your card in the mail, but..."

Before I devised this system there were many times that I had remembered to buy the card, but never mailed it because I put it somewhere and forgot. I've even put it in my purse and then been out somewhere, actually REMEMBERED to mail it but with my address book at home I would have to call my brother for the address. This way, things like addresses, stamps or location are never a problem. The whole process takes maybe ten minutes out of the day and I'm done for another month.

Preparing cards once a month...it sure works for me. What works for you?

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