Phone Book

If you're like me, you have a small book with important phone numbers by the telephone, in a drawer, or on the counter. This book contains names, addresses, birthdates, anniversaries, and the like.

The problem I run into is that whenever someone changes their address or phone number, I scratch out the old information and write in the new information. And on top of that the names are not alphabetized, becuase they get added in the order I get them - they are in tabs so that I can find them, but I still have to look for Abel in the A-B section.

Here's a solution I recently became aware of that I think will solve my problems.

Get a 3x5 index card file, and some 3x5 index cards, and tabs - some of these can be found that are already labeled A-B, C-D, etc. or you can label them yourself. Write the information on a 3x5 card for each person / company. Put the cards in the file in alphabetical order. If something changes, write a new card and toss the old one.

You can use different colored cards for different things. For example, a red card at the front of the file could be for emergency numbers - the hospital, doctor's office, insurance agent, etc., yellow cards might be services you use, such as the mechanic, plumber, etc.

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