'Tis the season

[fenchurch]

I just got the next to last batch of cards out in the mail!

I did a final tally and between relatives and friends, we're sending out around 75 cards this year! Yowza! Not bad considering last year was the first year we managed to send out *any*. At this point, the only cards left to go are for a few people I added to the list a bit late (after running out of cards), and some relatives I don't see very often and want to actually tell them what we're up to nowadays (IOW, I need to take the time to print up some sort of letter).

Hopefully, I haven't missed anybody... and there may be one or two of you who get two cards, because about halfway through the process, I lost track of what I had done and sent (I did mention this is only the second year I've done this, didn't I?). I figure next year I should have a whole system developed for doing this...

I also braved the post office and got a few packages sent... those self-help kiosks are wonderful, even if they are a bit clunky. It would have been much nicer and more efficient if I could have run more than one transaction at a time... especially where I was paying with my debit card.

Comments

[tomte.livejournal.com]

I luuurrves my Petite Rolodex, inherited from my dad. It may not have all the nifty bells and whistles of a digital system, but then again I never have to worry about it going AWOL when Da System Go Kaboom. I just leaf through the whole thing in alphabetical order at the end of the year, addressing envelopes until the whole teetering pile is complete.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid that unless an address absolutely won't fit on a label, they all come off the laser printer. There's no way my hand would be able to handle all that writing. Ouch! However, I do try to keep a dead tree copy of our address list, just in case.

[jen-nsync-landl.livejournal.com]

Congrats -- you are so good! I haven't even started shopping yet. LOL

[aeolianafay.livejournal.com]

BTW... Thanks for the card you sent me! You'll get one soon enough... once I get the cards.. LOL. Hafta buy 'em first. :-D

[rosiewook.livejournal.com]

My personal way of doing cards is to print up all the address lables at once. That way, you know that you've sent a card to everyone on your list when the labels are gone.

Either way, it's a good thing done. 75 cards!

I still have a few more to go. Really need to get concentrating on that.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Well, that's what I tried to do... but my address labels all have a little embossed thing of holly on them, and some of the addresses were too long, which meant they had to be reprinted. Except that I went ahead and hand-wrote a few of them, just to get them done. And then I lost some of the sheets of labels that had the ones not sent on them... and, well, there was great confusion. :-p

[econopodder.livejournal.com]

My system, which I've developed over the last ten years for doing about 80 cards a year:

Most important: set up a manila envelope **right now** labelled "2005 envelopes/letters." As every card comes in to you, stick its envelope & anything else in there -- esp anything with an address on it.

Then at the end of the card season, take out your envelope & your address list, & update as needed. Also put a note by each address saying when you updated it. That way, you'll no longer stare at a cousin's address going, "Didn't he move in the last couple years? Is this the new one or the old one?"

As for doing cards themselves, my routine is to sit down with my address list & write up the envelopes first. (The tech alternative would be updating & printing the labels.) Then I can carry the envelopes with me to wherever (I like coffee shops, but your mileage may vary) & use them as a guide to writing up the cards -- as in, "okay, Aunt Martha....what do I want to say to Aunt Martha?") I keep both piles in order, and then sit down to stuff card with letter in envelope. Then I go through & seal everything (usually requires tape). Very last passthrough is for address labels & stamps.

This all takes a while, but the sense of accomplishment is molto bene when it's done.

[econopodder.livejournal.com]

Forgot to say: I actually keep the big manila envelope, esp at least the holiday letters in it. It's surprisingly fun to go through it years later & remember what everyone was doing at a particular point.

Also forgot to say that I note in my address list whether I sent &/or got a card in 05 from that person. Not having sent me a card doesn't mean you won't get one from me the next year, but having sent one pretty much ensures you will.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Congrats on being organized! I'm ALMOST to that point! :) Barb needs to get ink for her printer so we can get our labels printed, though (the program we print labels on, sadly, isn't on my machine, although that might be cheaper than two ink cartidges--she has one of those annoying printers that won't take generics).

The self-help kiosk at our USPS allows more than one transaction (in fact, one time someone ahead of me didn't close out and I accidentally charged my transaction to THEIR ATM card!). At the end it asks, "can I help with anything else" or some such, and you just click "yes" to continue.

If you leave that screen up (as now I know), then the next person up could click "yes" and get their package mailed on your dime. The next time I used it I noted that and saved the person ahead of me from having the same problem happen.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Ours asked that too, but only after the previous transaction had been paid for and was completed. Now I'm wondering if they've changed it because they had too many people walk off like that...

[tenel.livejournal.com]

My Christmas buddy...thank you so much for the cards. It is so sweet of you to think of me. I am looking at the Seattle thingie-mah-boggie all lit up and I want to visit. When funds settle down, don't be surprised to hear from em. I am a grunge fan and have always wanted to check out the start of it all. :)