Last week at my rug hooking group we were talking about Christmas cards. I had said my organizing idea for Monday was about cards.

One woman said she likes to write a little family history even though she knows no one likes getting them. I take exception to that. I hear that too, but absolutely everyone I know loves being caught up to date with their friends. And we all agreed we love to get cards.

Here are some organizing tips for sending out Christmas cards:
1. Have all of your addresses in one place, either in an address book or on the computer. Take off any name you haven’t heard from in two years.
2. Make a list of people you want to send cards to. Keep this list on the computer or print it off. You then have a template and only have to make a few corrections next year instead of starting from scratch.
3. If you didn’t buy Christmas cards last year when they went on sale no worries, many stores run pre-Christmas sales before Thanksgiving on cards.
4. Write your Christmas letter, or jot a note in your cards and schedule a time to do it before December.
5. Have a target date when you will send out your cards. Mark this in your planner or on your calendar.
6. Delegate the addressing of the envelopes to a family member. This could be a job you pay a child who is capable of doing this and wants to earn money for Christmas spending.
7. Buy your Christmas stamps early, definitely before Thanksgiving to avoid the rush at the post office. I buy my stamps on line at usps.com It costs $1.00 for postage no matter how much I order and I have them in 2 to 3 days delivered to my door.

Christmas cards are fun to receive, so to continue to receive them, make sure you put your return address on all of the envelopes. Do you have any organizing ideas about Christmas cards you can share with us? We would love to hear it.