While I strive to do as much as I can electronically, there is still a lot of paper that goes through my hands. I deal with as much of it as quickly as I can, but there are always things that I need to hold onto until a specific date. These are often things like party invitations or concert tickets, but could be bills or anything else that you need to remember on a specific day.
Enter 43 folders, often called the “tickler file” because it will remind (or “tickle”) you on the necessary day. It’s a very easy set-up and works remarkably well. You create and label 43 folders — one for each month of the year, and the others labeled 1-31. The dates are in the front, the months are in the back. The numbered folders are for each day in the current month. When you reach the end of the current month, you pull out the next monthly folder, organize those items into their individual days, then put that month in the back.
For example, February just started. On February 1st, I grabbed the February folder, put the various items from it into the individual 1-31 folders, and then put the now-empty February folder in the very back.
If I get a new item in my hands for later this month, I can just tuck it in the appropriate daily folder. If I get an item for a month later in the year, I can just put it in the folder for that month, knowing that I’ll find it when the time comes.
For us, it’s great for concert/airline tickets. No more “where’d I put those!” — you know exactly where they are.
I still have a bunch of other file folders for old bills, tax info, receipts, etc, but the tickler is ideal for any date-sensitive materials.
Do you have a tickler file? Why or why not?
