September is a busy month for birthdays in my family. Knowing this, I try to get all my gift shopping done in August to avoid last minute trips to the store. While I may be prepared when it comes to the gift, I somehow always forget to pick-up a card. Recently, I was discussing this with a coworker who suggested stocking up on greeting cards so that I would always have one available at home. As simple as it seems, this thought had never occurred to me.

The pockets are labels with the categories I decided to separate the cards into.

So, this past weekend I went to the store to purchase greeting cards. I bought everything from birthday to thank you cards. I covered my bases with special occasions such as holidays, graduations and weddings. My thought originally was to store the cards in one of C-Line’s document cases. However, since I ended up purchasing a variety of cards, I wanted to organize them to eliminate searching through all the greeting cards any time I needed one. The Plaid 13-Pocket Expanding File was the product I ended up using. The black, gray and orange pattern provides a unique twist on the traditional expanding file. Although it is available with 7 pockets, I decided to use the larger one. I ended up organizing the cards based on occasions instead of by month. It seemed more helpful to have numerous birthday cards available rather then trying to buy in advance for each individual celebration. The cards were categorized into sections based on the occasion that they were for. The thick polypropylene dividers allowed for the cards to remain in their assigned pocket. Additionally, the tabs made it easy to identify sections so I had quicker access to the cards. I also created a cheat sheet of all birthdays and important celebrations throughout the year. The letter size document was placed in the first pocket and faced out. Since this portion of the expanding file is clear, I am able to quickly reference the birthday list without having to search through the document holder. The best part is that this weekend project took very minimal time to get organized. Have you used the 13-Pocket Plaid Expanding File recently? Share with us how you used it below!