If you have a birthday coming up soon, a holiday, or any other special occasion just around the corner, a time when you may be receiving gifts—NOW is the time to get organized!

     1. On the back of the gift card* write a short description of what the gift is.
         For example: Basketball, Blue Dress, Sports Jacket.
         (*No card? Then a 3" x 5" card will do!)

     2. Clip the address from the card’s envelope or gift’s mailing wrapper and
         tape the address to the back of the card. This way you won’t lose it
         before you have a chance to put it in your address file.

     3. If you don’t have the address for the person who gave the gift, ASK!
         Especially if the person is with you at a party or, if not, a grown-up can
         give it to you.

     4. Always write the address in a card file** or address book before writing
         the Thank-You Note. If you have a computer, start an address file, and
         always remember to make a back-up disk. (**I will show you how I set
         up my own card file system in Chapter 2.)

     5. If you don’t have a Zip Code, call your local post office for the information.

         a. Give the exact street address, city, and state; then the clerk will be able
             to give the Zip Code to you.

         b. If the clerk gives a Zip+4 Code to you, be sure to write down all nine
             numbers. This nine-digit number helps to sort mail faster and the U.S.
             Postal Service would like everyone to use it, whenever possible.

         c. Always ask the clerk if you may read the Zip Code back. You want
             to make sure you wrote the numbers correctly, and of course,

         d. Remember to say “Thank You!” when you are finished getting the information.

You can look up the Zip Code yourself. Each post office usually has a
Zip Code Directory available in the lobby for anyone to use.

You can also get the Zip+4 Codes off the Internet by going to: http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/lookup_zip+4.html
Just follow the instructions on your computer screen.

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     For those grown-ups who are getting married, etc., may I suggest the following approach,
which worked well for my husband and me. I wrote the Thank-You Notes to my relatives
and he wrote to his, then we shared the writing of the notes to our friends.

Splitting up this long list of notes we had to write after our own wedding made a lot of sense.
Each of us knew our own relatives better than the other, and we were able to personalize
each note appropriately. Of course, whenever we got stuck on what to say, we would ask
each other for help.

The whole process was shared and mutually experienced, and became even more fun as we worked through the pile of cards. Both my husband and I have been blessed with a good sense
of humor—one of the main reasons why we married in the first place! To say the least, several
notes had large doses of humor by the time we got them all done.

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     We have a rule in our house that you can't use a gift until after the Thank-You Note is written. For grown-ups, that also means before the gift is placed on a shelf, put in a drawer, or hung up in the closet. Why? Because many times, once a gift is put away, the thought about writing a Thank-You Note can be too easily forgotten. This rule helps to establish self-discipline, priorities, as well as motivation.

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