Set up for Success

I think we all are getting ourselves organized for the New Year, right?  I have spent the last couple of weeks working on the following to get myself on track

I am using a utensil caddy to organize my birthday cards. I have had mine for years but you can find one similar here.

I went through my calendar and made a list of all the birthday cards I need to send out this year.  I bought all my cards, addressed them and have them ready to go.  I have stamps in one section and some of my favorite pens in another slot.

I took some card stock and we (and by we I mean my talented daughter) wrote each month on them to make dividers. 

Now that those were ready I selected my devotional for the year and I updated my prayer list in this prayer journal.  I pretty much pray all day like many of you.  But I also carve out three times a day for some really focused prayer.  To keep myself on track I write all the people, circumstances and situations that I need to daily cover in prayer. 

Then, of course, I listed every person I need to buy a gift for ...birthdays, valentines, Easter, Christmas and have my handy notebook all set to start filling in with gifts as I go through the year.

Lastly, I updated my Christmas card address list with all the return addresses on the cards we received.  Some people moved and have new addresses.  Some people sent us a card for the first time this year and got added to the list.  In December I will not remember all of this, so I always update the addresses right after Christmas. My address labels will be ready to print when the time comes.

So basically if I fail at any of these things I have no one to blame but me because the foundation is there for a successful year.  Maybe one of these ideas will help you in some way.

And if you have any tricks or tips that help you march through the year successfully, please share with me.  I love the chance to do things smarter, easier and more organized.

See you back on Friday!