How To Simplify And Organize Your Holiday Greeting Card List

Christmas Gift Box

In an effort to simplify our holiday traditions so we can enjoy them more, this year we have decided to simplify the way we send out greeting cards. We have already made and address labels file for our holiday cards using Microsoft Word. Last year we sent out over 200 cards. It was just too much! So this year we are cutting back the list! For the first time ever, we are not going to add anyone to our holiday card list unless they send us a card first! It's not easy, but with a strategy in mind it's much easier. Here's our strategy for cutting back and simplifying our holiday!

Guidelines for choosing people we are taking out of our Christmas labels Word File.

  1. People we have lost touch with. If they don't stay in touch with us, what is the point of sending cards every year?
  2. People who are business / school acquaintances. Does your doctor really care if you send a holiday card? If they display their cards, or thank you for it, or send you one, maybe the do. In this case, I'll send one. But as a professional organizer who helps people let go of things, I don't want to send a card that could ultimately add to their clutter! I'd rather give them a free half hour or hour of my time.
  3. People who don't send us cards (including family members). Obviously they must not care about getting any if they don't send any, right?
  4. People who understand why we are trying to simplify. Sending over 200 cards is just too much!
  5. People we know don't really care whether or not we send a card.
  6. People who will be just as happy if we just send them a digital e-card!

Guidelines for determining people we are keeping in the file.

  1. Family members & friends who send us cards regularly because they love sending & getting cards.
  2. People who meant a lot to me during my life when I lived in various places around the country that I really love exchanging updates with every year.
  3. Older people we know don't get a lot of cards, don't have computers, and for whom receiving a card means a lot to them. I love to send cards to the parents of friends of mine who have been kind to me. They especially appreciate receiving a card when they have lost a loved one. They holidays are much harder for them then.

So that's it! When you look at it this way, it's not that hard to cut your holiday card mailing list! Remember, the most important part of sending a card is how it will make the recipients feel. If they don't really care, why bother? If they do enjoy it and send you cards, then your effort is worth it.

Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday and much success in the New Year!

© 2006 Ariane Benefit, Neat Living

Ariane Benefit is a professional organizer, speaker, and author of the popular Neat Living Blog at http://www.NeatLiving.NET Her mission is to inspire people to simplify, clear clutter, and organize so they can live a life they love! Check out her FREE Neat Living "Do-it-Yourself" Organizing Library at http://www.NeatLiving.ORG/newsletters