How do YOU store the letters you receive?

So, what do you do with all the letters that you receive from correspondents? Do you keep them or throw them away after you have read them?

I keep all my correspondence, which presents the next problem...how do you store all those letters and postcards?

When I first started corresponding with new people it was not all that difficult, because I didn't have that much mail and I would just tuck the letters into the back of the journal that I was currently writing it. But as my list of penpals grew this method quickly became impractical.

I had this black photo storage box which was just sitting around so I turned it into a letter and postcard storage box.


However, it quickly filled up and I obviously needed something bigger. This box is now used to hold my "fold and mail" stationery and other small pads and writing stuff.


I told George that I needed something bigger in the way of a storage box, and I was actually thinking of some of those plastic boxes, when he brought two of these home. This is a colorful file storage box, used to substitute for a file cabinet. It is a little large for the purpose that I intended but it works.


This box is especially good for larger envelopes and some package envelopes. I've kept some of these because I like the stamps or the addresses. Like the unpronouceable one from Wales which contained the pen I blogged about The Unknown Brit, or the one from the Ukraine from a fellow FPNr with whom I swapped a nib for a Parker 45. But it still really wasn't what I wanted.


Then last weekend I stopped by Target to pick up a couple of things and found this box on the sale shelf. It measures 11-3/4" by 10" by 6" and is proving to be perfect. Yes, it's missing a stud on the front, which I didn't even notice until I took the photo for this review. But who cares?

Here's the best part: This box was originally priced at $29.99, but was on sale for $7.34. Hey, you can't beat that...and when I fill it up, I'll just move the letters to my yellow file and start over.


I also bought some colorful, eco-friendly, file folders and cut them to size to make the dividers. I get two dividers from each folder and then I use what's left and make it into an envelope using the pattern I found on Tejal's website Artistic Inklinations. Kind of cool, nothing wasted here.


Lastly, I use colorful gel pens to label the dividers or address the envelopes.