it's great to read everyone's posts..and get some ideas from them, too.  thank you!  i have a, more or less, organized system.  i'm relatively new to this (4 months), i have a feeling i'm just in the calm waters yet. 

i have a ledger i keep everything in..the back part has the addresses of the one's i've sent to, and color star stickers on the others.  it was really hard to decide who gets care packages first & so on.  i debated & finally settled on a "more remote" system.  my husband helped me out & has been really supportive.  we even have "anysoldier" marked in the checkbook pages.  he jokes that this is why he works overtime, so he can support "the other men" in my life.

I have a hard time with spreadsheets, so I use a word document with the general info on each soldier and then two lines underneath for last letter sent, and last package sent, and just keep adding dates when I send.

Address requests stay organized in my e-mail in-box. Budget...is like the others. I try to squeeze in 5-10 dollars worth of stuff on the grocery bill and a bit more if at Target/Walmart, etc. And now trying to stick to 3-4 boxes/month and make a sort of 'waiting list' out of the 8 or 9 contacts I've sent to. (I've heard back from about 4 of them, whether e-mail or free mail.)

My dining room table is getting traded in for more organization in the spare room this month! yeay.

Good luck. There are lots of great ideas on this thread.

I USED to be organized when I started doing this several years ago, REALLY - I WAS  LOL    Had spiral notebooks with names/addresses, each mailing listed with number of parcels, postage costs, list & costs of contents., etc. but it got too time consuming to keep track  (plus it was a little scary to see the totals sometimes)

 NOW  I have a file box with folders for customs forms, postage rate schedules, receipts, mail etc.   So if I want to find info I can.   I don't send on a schedule, I usually find guys in remote areas send fairly large amounts whenever.  Because of the locations I don't get too much in the way of responses, but they seem to need it the most.  I buy alot at Costco especially when they have great coupons like recently.  Use my friends coupon books too.   

My husband put together some of those free standing shelving units so my once nice office looks like a mini mart, but I don't care, helps me keep it sorted.  About ready for another one if I don't hurry and get some boxes filled,  things are stacked up on the floor too.  But there have been great bargains lately and I just keep shopping. 

Got a nice little 4 ft fold up table to do most of my wrapping on now so I don't have to ding up the dining room table anymore, keep all the labels, tape etc in a small plastic tote box so it's quick when I get ready to mail. They fit in the closet when not in use.  We have more shelving units in the garage and I keep all the flat rate boxes and the like out there so I always have a supply on hand. 

Keep up the good work all you junkies, however it works best for you.    Anita

Oh, are we supposed to stay organized??  And I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who no longer has a dining room table with just a tablecloth and centerpiece on it!!  I have flat rate boxes, tape, piles of magazines, customs forms and labels and snacks piled up there now, most of the time. 

Budget???   My husband reminded me that I retired in  April and don't have quite as much disposable income as I used to......so, I cut back a bit and then asked the members of the gun club I belong to, to make donations, too.  They have started bringing in magazines.....some of which leave me wondering exactly who do they think I am sending these to??  Harvard Business Magazine??  Yachting and Boating??  Well, I sent the yachting magazines, along with gun mags, and one of my Marines wrote back and said he enjoyed the Yachting magazines.....gave him something to think about how the other half lives and what he'd like to do to be successful in life!!  He liked the Travel magazines, too.  We email back and forth now.

As far as organization goes, I keep copies of all the letters I send, in a document file on my computer.  I type all my letters since my handwriting is awful. I also keep the customs forms till I hear from the recipient.  If I still have the form after a few months and have gotten no response to the packages or letters, I drop them from my list.  Oh, and I always enclose a self-addressed envelope and writing paper in every box and ask them to let me know that they got it.

I have a nice file filled with letters from our troops as well as photos. I also have emails.  Oh, and I've met two of the recipients when they returned home.  Both young ladies.....one a Major from Ft Drum and the other an Air Force Sgt from McGuire, not too far from where I live.  They were both delightful and excellent representatives of our young people today.

Ann...

Well, I am a Yankee fan, so let me just say WOW-you are a true Support Junkie!!!!  There really is NOTHING you won't do for these guys!!!!    (the last big series we Yankees won... now, what year would that have been in?  LOL)  But to meet a Sox/Mets fan...  a rare breed indeed!!! 

Good luck in the WS!

Omg, so many of these posts have me laughing out loud!

I'm LOVING these responses!  I do think I'm going to be a spreadsheet/binder combo girl.  I hadn've even thought of a binder, that's really brilliant.  I also like the carry-bin with tape and scissors, that makes so much more sense than fishing these things from various other spots in the house every time I go to mail.  I also need to start collecting FRB's...  I think the size will help keep me under control.

Awesome tips!  You Junkies Rock!

LOL joCee... where there's a Junkie will, there's a Junkie way!

So, I took in all the advice and came up with a system that includes just about everything!  I got a binder with tab dividers for my adopted soldiers and main contacts, to be able to store their information and write lists for packages and ideas whenever inspiration strikes, I made up a spreadsheet of what was mailed when and to whom, with dates completed and dates pending, and bought a portable file with folders for each (same as dividers) to keep customs forms and letters received from each, as well as blank forms and cards I've bought.  The binder fits in the file box (which a nice tote-bag-looking type box with strap handles, an awesome cheap find from HomeGoods!) 

I have consciously decided NOT to track budget.   No good can come of it... as long as I can still pay the rest of my bills, I'm happier not knowing what's being spent.  LOL

Thanks for all the ideas, everyone!  I feel so relieved that I'll be able to get through the holiday season without forgetting anyone!

(oh, and congrats, Ann!) 

Budget? hmm wonder what that is. Budget to me means, "Ohhh it's on sale!" lol.

Organization- I'm still working on that.  I do keep the food items away from the personal hygiene items separately.. does that count ??

As far as counseling for my addiction- It's this forum. It's just so hard not to go look for the items an AS supporter found on sale or got a great deal on! 

I just fairly new to sending packages, so my table isn't that bad. But I did just buy more stuff and had to put it all into a plastic storage box!

Here is a little sample of my organizational skills lol.

:-) Andrea

Andrea,

I am very happy with myself and my organizational skills.  All of our stash (except for pillows that is) is in boxes - boxes on shelves, boxes in the living room floor, boxes in the garage, boxes, boxes, boxes - now where did I put the box that ______ is in? LOL

Gran

Ooooh....I'd love to post some photos of the many rooms in the house that have been taken over with soldier goodies, BUT there's no camera with a wide enough angle lens to fit it all in!!!   I suppose it's just as well.  Now no one can see my lack of organizational skills.  HAHAHA   I seriously need help.

 Kathy

Andrea, 

I'm coveting your good stash of healthy food items - and of course, the peanut M&Ms! Where'd you get the multi-packs of granola???

I also use plastic storage bins, since my Mother (who I live with right now) asked if she could please have her dining room back for awhile!!! She's very understanding, and helped me organize my stuff in bins according to what they were (Snacks & food, hygeine items, books/magazines, everything else). So now her laundry room is my mini-px!

Not sure where Andrea got her granola packs, but I've seen them at our Big Lots.

Yes, organization.  That was me at the beginning of this year when I first found anysoldier.com. 

 Then there were the 2 front page articles in our local newspaper , and the next 2 smaller ones on page 2 and then page 3, and then the donations started coming in, and my quilting room turned into a book store, a packing room, and then a mini mart, and then just a big mess . 

 In order to pack the christmas bags that a new friend is sewing for my adopted 185 Marines, my husband willingly helped me set up an 8 ft. table in the livingroom. I brought out all the small goodies for the bags - hot cocoa packets, gum, trail bars, tea + sugar packets, baseball cards and even some Desert Storm cards that a supporter and her retired Marine spouse had bought, powdered drink packets, taffy, mini chocolate candy bars - that were bought by so many people with the free KMart coupon that was posted on here, signed Christmas cards, beef jerky, which cleared off the table in my quilting room, that I immediately filled up with more items that I took out of bags on the floor that I will be mailing out to other groups that I have adopted, after I get this big mailing out by Dec 1st because my contact and 50 others are heading home in January.

The cheapest way for me to send these are the Flat Rate #2 Box, and unfortunately only 8 ditty bags fit in each one.  So I'll be breaking the rule of mailing only 5 a day, by mailing all of them on the same day.  You do the math!

  I do have my binder with the tabs, and I do keep my customs forms, and e-mails, and letters from my contacts, etc.  etc.  etc.  Sorry, I got carried away.  I've enjoyed reading other posts on here.  A lot of good information.  Thanks

Deni Dax,

Is it really cheaper to mail them that way?  Is each one really heavy?  I used to think it was cheaper to mail this way, but I have been doing some research and when you get to a certain weight it becomes cheaper to mail parcel post.  It is calculated by pounds after a certain amount.  So if you are sending 8lbs, 1oz.  it cost the same as mailing 9 lbs.  This is probably as clear as mud, but you might look into it further since you are mailing to so many.

Hope this helps.

Vicki