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As our users know, I’m a big believer in the power of the thank you note. It’s such a personal way to connect with people who you want to show appreciation towards. In an age of e-everything, people are often surprised and delighted when they get a hand-written note in the mail…even when it takes the form of handwriting like mine

The sentiment (and the promptness) is what matters, but I’ll be the first to admit that it can get a bit overwhelming at times as the stack of to-dos grows higher and higher. That’s why it is so important to be organized from the get-go, so you know exactly what is from whom and when you thanked them…Being organized makes it easy for you to start right away so that you are never behind. It’s A LOT easier to write 2-3 notes a day than it is to try and tackle 20. When I was getting married, if I could, I tried to write the note the day we received the gift; I was in the moment, feeling connected to the giver and therefore writing the note was actually fun and not a chore. I took what I learned from my own wedding when creating the Gift Manager for Deposit a Gift users and actually based it on my personal wedding spreadsheet. We never want you to be lost as to who gave you what and if/when you thanked them.

But today I’m going to one-up myself and welcome back organizational expert Stacey Agin Murray to the blog to give her expert advice on handling thank you notes. She goes above and beyond just how to keep track of the gifts. Though written from the vantage point of a wedding, these tips can be applied to any gifting event when you need to stay thank you.

You’ve announced your engagement—Congratulations! The gifts are now pouring in and contributions to your Deposit a Gift registry are piling up.

Now it’s time to thank your friends and relatives for their generosity. But, wait—you’ll need to do this for engagement gifts, shower gifts, and wedding gifts. Multiply that by the number of people on your guest list and that’s A LOT of thank you notes to write.

Staying organized is vital to keeping this enormous task from overwhelming you.

Your objective is to track and write a myriad of gracious and original thank you notes without running out of steam and burning out. Being organized will save you from defaulting to the all-too-common ‘Thank you for your generous gift” line (although we’ve ALL received those thank you notes, haven’t we?). You won’t be mistakenly thanking Cousin Mandy for the blanket hand crocheted by Aunt Sandy, either.

Here are a few organizing tips to help you write heartfelt thank you notes, keep your stress levels down, and stay in control of the enormous task ahead of you:

• Create a spreadsheet for tracking gifts. Remember to include a column for writing the date your thank you note was put in the mail.

Your DAG gift manager has the thank you note tracker built right in, AND, it exports to Excel so you can merge it with any other spreadsheets you are keeping

• Use scrap paper to jot down ideas before writing your thank you message. This will save you from making mistakes on your expensive and limited amount of note cards.

• Use a large container to create a ‘home’ for all of your thank you note writing materials (gift list, stamps, note cards, pens, etc.). This container is a place to safely store your writing products. It also makes your ‘writing center’ easily transportable to any surface whether it be a desk, the dining room table or your comfy couch.

• Pace yourself! Write a comfortable amount of thank you’s a day. For most people, it’s 3-5. Take a day or two off during the week from writing—you’ll be refreshed from the break and less likely to feel burned out when you get back to writing your next batch.

• Get your groom involved. More often than not, thank you note writing falls to the bride, but there’s no reason why the groom can’t be a part of the process. He’s enjoying those gifts, too! Is your groom not the next Hemmingway? Is his handwriting illegible? Send him to the post office for ‘Love’ stamps and have him lick envelopes. Writing and sending out thank you notes together is a great way to reminisce about your wedding and complete the task twice as fast.

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Stacey Agin Murray, owner of Organized Artistry, LLC is a Professional Organizer in Fair Lawn, NJ offering residential organizing services from attic to basement and every space in between. She is the author of 7 Steps to an Organized Wedding Thank You Note, a quick-reference guide for the overwhelmed bride. To learn more about getting organized go to www.organizedartistry.com. Visit Stacey’s blog or Facebook page.