How to Create and Use a Tickler File
Having spent much of my career in education, I had never heard of a tickler file. It wasn’t until I began organizing that I found out such a thing existed.
The word tickler actually means to “tickle” your memory. I have created and used a tickler file for a few years now and I find that it functions as a place to hold dated information that I need to keep for a short time. Some examples would be flyers to events, invitations, online internet orders, and client folders placed in the day that I meet with them.
To create a tickler file, you need 31 hanging folders for the days of the month, 12 hanging folders for the months of the year, and a few extra hanging folders for files such as pending or next year.
Begin by numbering the tabs of the 31 folders according to the days of the month. Write the months of the year on the 12 folders. It is nice to use a different color for these folders to set them apart from the days of the month.
Use the extra folders for things such as pending or next year. Pending refers to things that you are waiting for some action on from someone other than yourself. Such an example would be waiting for an internet order to come in. Next year might be a conference that is scheduled the following year.
Find a container to put all of the hanging folders in. The one in the picture can be found at Office Depot or Staples. It is a free-standing, black wire frame. You can also put the hanging folders in a plastic box-like file or a filing cabinet. I would recommend keeping the files out on a desk or countertop to make sure that you go through them daily.
Follow these steps to begin using the tickler file.
1. Begin to place papers in the days of the month as you use them. For example, if you receive a flyer for a conference you want to attend, register for the conference, and then print out the flyer and place it in the date of the conference. On the day of the conference, pull out the paper and take it with you for date, time, and directions. Then you can discard it.
2. Continue to fill the days of the month with papers as you use them, removing them from the file when they expire. This is a temporary file system and most days should be empty.
3. As you finish with each day’s hanging folder, move it to the back of the file so that the new day is showing in the front. When you finish the current month, remove it and have the next month showing.
4. If the file gets too crowded to house all 31 day folders and 12 month folders plus some extras only store a few months’ folders there and keep the rest nearby.
5. You may want to keep a calendar on the front of the system to reference when deciding on what date to put some papers. This system could be used to make notes to yourself about following up with someone on a particular date or as a reminder for yourself to complete a certain task.
With all of the paper that is generated these days, the tickler file is a great way to manage temporary things. It frees your memory for other important things.
