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This tip is an oldie but a goodie…I’m sure many of you practice some sort of variation of this tip, so I won’t go into great detail. But I’ve devised some simple ways to stay on top of the whole “greeting card madness” that we are all familiar with. How many times have you realized all too late, that you should have mailed a greeting card two days ago for your sister’s birthday that is today? Fear not, I have a few tips to make this process easy and to help you remember those special days.

First of all, you can’t send a card if you don’t have them and who wants to rush out to Walgreen’s at 10pm to buy a forgotten birthday card right? Here are some tips for staying stocked with a selection of cards:

1. Make a list and check it twice. Just like Santa Claus, make a list of your favorite people and when they have important days such as birthdays and anniversaries. A great way to keep this list organized is to use a Google Calendar that will allow you to enter the days in one time and will copy them to each subsequent years’ calendar for you automatically. You can even set up the calendar to send you an email two or three days before the big day to remind you to get that card in the mail!

2. Once you have your core list, factor in the other occasions that might pop up for you during the year. Weddings, new babies, shower cards, get well soon cards, cards for people who have passed away and card for people who need cheering up.

The average woman will attend at least one baby shower, one wedding shower and one wedding a year. You should also factor in at least one of each of the other cards previously mentioned.

3. Think of the kids….buy some generic kiddie cards that are not specific to any particular age for your stash as well. These are the birthdays that always sneak up on me personally.

4. Have a stash of “thank you” cards on hand at all times so you can send out a quick note. While you’re at it, find a nice set of blank cards that can be used for all kinds of purposes in case something pops up and you are short a card.

Ok, that’s great and all, but what if you always forget to buy cards? Here are some tips for how to handle this so that you always have cards on hand:

1. Buy all of your cards in January and stash them away. A good idea for most people, although not that many people can afford to spend $100 or more on greeting cards in one fell swoop. If you can, great…this is perhaps the best way to make sure you get them purchased.

If you can’t afford to buy them all at once, there is an easy way to take the pain out of purchasing so many cards. At the beginning of the month BEFORE you need the cards, buy the cards you need for the next month. So if you need cards in January for a birthday, an anniversary and a wedding, buy them in December before the end of the month. Then, as long as you are ahead, buy a card that you can stash away for another purpose later in the year….like a Valentine card or a baby shower card.

The idea is to stay one month ahead while ALSO stockpiling one extra future card into your stash. As the months go on and you go through the year, you will purchase fewer and fewer cards to get you though the year.

Another twist on this same strategy is to buy the cards you need for that month, but double them. So if Aunt Sally has a birthday in January, buy her the card for this year AND the card for next year and stash it away. By the end of the year, you will have sent all of your cards AND you will have a complete year’s worth of cards ready to go for next year!

When next year rolls around, repeat the process and you will always have an ample supply of cards in your stash.

How to care for a card stash….in other words, how to keep them looking like you just bought them.

The hardest part about stockpiling anything is keeping it looking new until you need to use it. I’m picky about cards and want them to look nice when they are given to someone, so I have a few tips for storing cards that will help them to look newer longer.

First of all, air and moisture are the two most damaging elements that will ruin your cards. The only sure-fire way to make sure they are protected is to keep them in plastic zipper bags. The problem is that once you have a pile of them in the bag, it’s often difficult to see which cards are in the bag and to keep the bag from bending.

Here’s a method for organizing and keeping greeting cards nice:

1. You’ll need several freezer-style zipper bags, a permanent marker and several pieces of thin to medium-weight cardboard (a cereal box or granola bar box cut into rectangles works well for this).

2. Cut the cardboard into rectangles that will fit into the zippered bags. You will need two pieces of cardboard for each bag, and each piece should fit nearly exactly from left to right in the bag. An ideal piece of cardboard would have no writing at all, perhaps from an old shirt box that you received when you received a clothing gift or something.

3. On the outside of each bag, choose your method of labeling. You might want a bag for each month of the year, or a bag for each occasion….just label the bags with the marker so that you know what is inside each one.

4. Place the greeting cards between the two pieces of cardboard in each bag so that the cardboard acts like a support for each bag.

5. Lay the bags flat in a plastic storage container (the kind you put under the bed or on a shelf…not a huge one you would use for clothes or books) and keep it in a convenient place! Voila! You have a perfectly stashed supply of cards!

Some people also like to place a perfume sample from a magazine in the box too to scent the cards lightly and keep them from getting stale smelling. That’s up to you….I’ve actually put an unused dryer sheet in my box of cards and that works well without creating an overpowering scent.

Hopefully these greeting card organization tips will help you get your correspondence under control! Good luck!

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