During the years when I had dozens of pen pals, I had an entire desk drawer full of stationery. I received most of it as gifts; after all, buying stationery for someone who likes to write letters makes sense. The problem is, it’s very easy to become inundated by stationery because it often comes in packs of ten, twenty or fifty sheets of paper or notecards, but a person only writes one letter at a time. When even a few people bestow the gift of stationery upon me, I’m suddenly set to write several hundred letters, but it can take a long time to do that.
When I’m getting ready to write a letter, I generally choose a piece of stationery that fits the personality of the recipient but is also appropriate for the length of letter I plan to write. What this means is that, at any one time, I’m only partway through half a dozen packs of stationery. It also means that I feel a little guilty when I happen upon a pack of notecards or super cute paper at the store that I’d like to buy. How can I possibly justify spending money on stationery when I already have more than enough to write on at home?
Because of my method of selecting the right piece of stationery for each individual person, it’s a rare day that I actually finish off a complete pack.
If you’re a letter writer, I’d love to know whether you work your way through a single pack of stationery exclusively before opening the next one, or if you also have your fingers in dozens of designs at the same time like I do.
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Oh, I have lots of different papers and I tend to make my own too, so I almost never use stuff up either. I came across paper from 10 years ago recently.
Though I have a stash of stationery, I have to admit that I also like to finish stuff up so I can justify buying new stationery. Right now, there are three packs of stationery that I have that are almost finished, and I hope to use them up soon so I can shop for some more!
Oh no, I feel bad if I use one up. I only write a few people, and I try to not use the same again at least for some time, so I have quite a stash.
You must have a huge stash then, Sarah! I’m sure your letter recipients appreciate the variety!
My stationery is never stationary for very long. I write about 5–6 pieces of mail a day, sometimes much more, and I don’t like to ever send the same stationery to someone, so I have all my stationery packages open. I have two lovely boxes I store it in, one for smaller pieces, the other for larger and I mix all the stationery together, with their envelopes. I typically take 1/3 of each design out of its packaging for immediate use, and leave the rest stored away, then restock as necessary. Oddly … my family never thinks to buy me stationery. I suspect they think I’m too fussy.
Wow! You must have a ton of stationery! I’d love to see the collection you’ve amassed over the years!
I have the same problem. This weekend I tackled cleaning out my secretary and decided that I would pull out one piece from each of my stationery packets and only put those back in the “letter paper drawer.” When I’ve used up all these singles, I’ll go back to my stash (now housed in a nice IKEA storage box in the basement) and replenish the drawer. Of course, that doesn’t solve my stationery buying habit…but that’s a challenge for another day, LOL.
I love the idea of pulling one card from each stack and using those and then going back. I tend to do the opposite: I often use almost the whole stack on a whole series of letters, and then I hold off on the last one just in case I find the perfect occasion to use it.
I am a bit of both, so I have a number of open sets of stationery at any one time. However, by the time I get half way through a pack, I get bored with it. It languishes at the bottom of the drawer for awhile, and then I pull it out and write every letter on it until it’s all gone. My pet peeve is that you often only get one sheet per envelope, and I have been known to write ‘packed lunches’ on occasion! I always have pads of nice plain paper on hand for the overflow. My favourite is Crown Mill in white, cream, grey, pink and blue so I can cover any colour matching emergency.
I love the idea of your project and although I never lack people to write to, I should make an effort to write to people I have lost contact with.
I have the extra paper problem too, Thea. I try to think about how long a letter will be before I begin writing it so I choose the right stationery without having too much leftover paper or envelopes. I’ll have to look into the Crown Mill brand.