sunnycat
Crayons
Posts: 11
Looking for Penpals?: Yes. Global penpals welcome
Country I live in is: Sweden
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Post by sunnycat on Feb 26, 2022 13:39:54 GMT
As someone who doesn't have the best short term memory and also gets easily distracted, I find it hard to remember things such as when I received a letter in the mail. So, now that I am starting to write to more and more people I would like some sort of tracking system so that I know exactly when a letter arrived and also when I responded. I'm wondering how you all do it. Do you keep a list of all incoming and outgoing mail? Or do you just put the letters you have responded to in one pile and the ones you have not yet written back to in another? Or do you have a very good memory and keep track of everything in your head?
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Post by although on Feb 26, 2022 14:04:08 GMT
I write the received date on the outside of the envelope. When I reply, I write in a replied date underneath that. Also, letters that have had replies go into longer term storage. New letters (the reply pile) are kept in the briefcase that I keep most of my writing gear in. I do try to work the reply pile down in the order that they were received. A couple of years ago, I started scanning letters. I've got a multi-function printer that does a good job of such things. If I feel compelled to look up something from an older letter, it's a lot faster to pull up a scan than to hunt through long-term letter storage. Also, it allows me to keep copies of the outgoing mail. I feel like the scans are a bit over the top sometimes. I don't reference them often. Mostly, I use them when I write my folks. They never write back, so it helps me to figure out where I left off in my last letter
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Post by davidv on Feb 26, 2022 15:21:46 GMT
I have a handwritten table on a piece of paper where I record the dates received, replied, sender, their writing date, and any notes about special inclusions. The special inclusions column is especially so I remember if I sent them a photo or other such item, so I don’t send a very similar thing twice to the same person.
After I reply to a letter it lives in a drawer until the drawer fills up and I have to move them to a box. I can see some of the benefits of scanning, but it’s too time consuming for me. I just accept that I’ll probably forget some of what I wrote last time and repeat myself.
I already find that my letters take a long time to compose and sometimes decorate so I’ve decided I don’t want to spend time scanning and organizing files.
So far my letter box still has room, but I might be soon reaching the point that I need more boxes or another plan.
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Post by davidv on Feb 26, 2022 15:37:11 GMT
Also, I used to reply in the order received, but have started replying first to letters where I feel more motivated about topics to discuss. That seems to give time for ideas to develop on other letters, and I think the overall sum of letter quality goes up.
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Post by ginny on Feb 26, 2022 17:22:08 GMT
I write the arrival date on the envelope and put the incoming letters on a pile, at the end of the week, I sort them into transparent sleeves and file them by date. For outgoing mail, I have a big notebook where I log when I write to whom (and also how much it was so I have some control over how much I spend on postage per month). That works pretty well for me. I do not reply to letters in order of when I received them. Some of the letters I get aren't very long, and it's easy to write a quick reply 'in between', if you know what I mean. Other letters are longer and require more focus and time. And then again some people take a year to reply - I won't reply within two weeks to their letters, of course, as it could put them under pressure and make them feel guilty for taking so long to write. So, I guess what I'm trying to say, when it comes to frequency - it depends Good luck in finding a system that works for you!
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Post by Bob on Feb 26, 2022 19:45:16 GMT
As Confucius put it, "The palest ink is more reliable than the most powerful memory."
So I make a note on the envelope of the date the letter was received, and reply to the letters as they come in. Then I note "Replied on ____" and place the envelope in a large box that once contained unused envelopes.
I arrange the envelopes in alphabetical order by the writers' last names, with the most recently received letter from a particular writer at the front of the group of A's, and so forth.
Best wishes selecting a system that meets your needs.
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Post by vertolive on Feb 26, 2022 19:46:47 GMT
I’ll write received date on the incoming and mostly reply in the order received. Except when I don’t.
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Post by rosesnbrambles on Feb 27, 2022 2:10:08 GMT
I use a spiral notebook. One page for incoming and one page for outgoing every month. I also write the date I reply on the back of the envelope.
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Post by Catida on Feb 27, 2022 13:05:30 GMT
I keep the letters waiting for a reply in a pile, and just track what I've sent out. When I've written a reply I write the date on the envelope, and put it in a storage box. I also write the date on my notebook dedicated to correspondence. I have a page for each of my penfriends with their address and some info about them (because I'm terrible at remembering the names of people's family members, pets and things like that..) and there I write the date when I've sent them a letter. (I also tried writing down when I received a letter from them, but found that I most often forgot to do it, so I gave up.) Lastly, I always take photos of the letters I send out, and store them (digitally) in albums named with the penfriend's name. So if I want to get back to a letter I've sent, I can look up the date in my notebook or on the envelope of the letter I replied to, and find the photos in my photo album.
My order of replying varies. I try to reply faster to letters from overseas, as I know they can take weeks to travel, whereas letters inside Europe usually travel in a few days. It also depends on my mind. Sometimes I feel like (and have time to) writing a long letter, so I'll write to one of my "long letter pals", and sometimes I'm busy, or just not in the mood for writing that long, and I'll pick one of my "short letter pals". I used to think I only wanted to exchange long letters, but have since discovered it's nice to have variety
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Post by allanorn on Mar 1, 2022 22:06:56 GMT
Is using rubber bands a good idea to keep archived or received mail together?
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Post by katiel on Mar 3, 2022 11:14:14 GMT
Is using rubber bands a good idea to keep archived or received mail together? I used to do this, but after a few years the rubber bands dried out and cracked and parts of the rubber band were stuck to the envelopes. It came off, but left a mark. Now I bundle the letters together with ribbon (nothing fancy, just the cheap rolls of Offray “satin” ribbon that you can get at any craft store, in any solid color - last time I bought some it was 33 cents a roll. But it’s been several years since I bought some, since I inherited my second mother’s huge stash of ribbon when she passed, so prices might be a little higher now?)
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sunnycat
Crayons
Posts: 11
Looking for Penpals?: Yes. Global penpals welcome
Country I live in is: Sweden
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Post by sunnycat on Mar 11, 2022 11:47:43 GMT
Thanks all for sharing your solutions. A lot of you say you write the date when you got the letter on the envelope, I haven't really thought about doing that before but I will certainly try it now.
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Post by penguy on Mar 12, 2022 14:53:13 GMT
I write the date received on the and the date the reply was sent after I've replied on the envelope. I usually try to reply in the order the letters are received, if I have just finished a twelve page letter I sometimes reply to a shorter letter for a change of pace. I have a small notebook and register the letter after I have read it, then afterwards the date sent. A quick look and I can see who I have to reply to. My entry looks like below, very simple.
3/11/2022 Jane Dough 3/15/2022
So far I have 35+ pages with about 30 entries to a page and dating back to 2011. If you haven't heard from someone it also gives you a way to check back and see when you last corresponded, time for a follow up. Sometimes you can restart an exchange of letters.
During the course of a year I put the letters I have replied to in a basket in alphabetical order. That helps if I want to check on the content of a previous letter. At the end of the year I bundle all of the years replies and put them away. I'm not sure why I save the previous years and years of letters. Perhaps someone I write to will become famous and the letters can be used as a historical record!
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Post by sunshine2170 on Mar 12, 2022 20:22:09 GMT
I write the received and replied date on the envelope. I file by month into a shoe box. I have an excel spread sheet with the name, address, date sent/received/replied and cost (I want to know what I spent in a year on postage). On my external hard drive I have a folder called PENPALS and file by Folder per person. I scan the letters and date them. I also scan/write my letters so I know I don't repeat myself in the next letter. After 5 years I do a cull and save all the stamps and discard/burn the letters so no one gets to see the addresses. Of course I keep the ones like decorated envelopes and calligraphicly written addresses for historical purposes so my kids can read.
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graphitediaries
Pencils
Posts: 61
Looking for Penpals?: Yes. Global penpals welcome
Country I live in is: Quebec
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Post by graphitediaries on Mar 14, 2022 2:02:55 GMT
My current system: I have a date stamp and stamp each incoming letter.
I keep a spreadsheet of everything I send, with the date of each letter. I also keep a letter journal.
I was keeping the replies in order of when the letters came, but this past month's InCoWriMo/LetterMo got me really backed up and for the past few weeks I've been wading through to reply first to longer-term penpals and those I most enjoy writing with, but even with my favourites pile I've got an outbox of 15! Total outbox is over 30 :-( Sorry to everyone who's still waiting!
My keep file boxes for my answered letters, and my latest storage method in the boxes is with file pocket folders. I file them by country. I have a box for US all to itself and this one is sorted by received date. Canada will likely need its own box this year too!
OK, time to stil writing this and get back to that pile!
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