A tickler file is one to manage date-sensitive information. It can be implemented for paper or electronic, and the classic version contains 43 folders. This can be overly burdensome, though, if you don’t deal with a lot of date-sensitive material. Today’s article is about simplifying the classic approach to ticklers.
Why 43 Folders?
Most traditional tickler files have 43 folders. The 43 folders comes from a set of file folders, one for each day of the month (31 total) and one for each month (12). 12 + 31 = 43.
The original tickler system had you make the physical folders. If something needed attention on the 9th of this month, you put it in the folder labeled “9”. If it needed to be dealt with in August, you put it in the “August” folder. At the beginning of each day, you emptied out your number folder to be dealt with. At the beginning of month, you put the contents of the month folder into the appropriate number folder.
It’s a great system for dealing with anything that needs to be dealt with on a given date.
But What If You Don’t Have That Much Dated Information?
Some of us just don’t deal with that much dated information because so many things can be attached (for better or worse) to electronic calendars. But there are things, such as prescriptions or birthday cards, that may need you to deal with paper. Or something that you can’t attach to a calendar because of sensitivity or a way to find it again.
If you have very little dated informaiton to deal with, you can always try an alternate system:
1 Folder + Reminder Tickler
This is the other extreme from the tickler system. In this system you put everything into one file folder called Tickler, and make notes in your task list to remind you to deal with it on the appropriate day. The note would have to say not only what you needed to do, but also what supporting materials were in the file so you can locate them.
This will work if you have very few paper items to deal with; as a good rule of thumb, less than 10.
The 12 Folder + Reminder System
If you have a few items a month, but not enough to justify the day folders, you can use a 12 folder system. Label each folder for a month, and then put a reminder in your task list to “process tickler” near the beginning of the month. (I actually do this on the last Monday of the month to give me time to get early birthday cards in the mail).
At the beginning of the month, you can process the items on their appropriate day in your electronic system, much as you would for the one month folder of the paper system. The only difference is you would leave the item in the tickler folder instead of moving it. When the reminder comes up, you look in the month folder to find your paperwork.
How I Use the 12 Folder System
I have been using the 12 folder system for years. I use it from everything from birthday cards, magazine and prescription renewals, and even the free calendars that get sent from various charities (all filed in “December”).
On the last Monday of the month, I check the tickler file for the next month, and then make notes in Remember The Milk of what I need to do. If there’s a birthday card, for example, I put an entry a week before the person’s birthday in RTM saying “Send birthday card (tickler)”, noting the person’s name. Then I just have to pull it out, put a stamp on it and send it.
Summary
Tickler files are a great way to manage paper. Use
- 31 folders if you have a lot of dated information to manager, needed just about every day.
- 1 folder + a reminder system if you have little paper to manage (less than 10 items)
- 12 folders + a reminder system if you have a few items a month to deal with.
