Kindergarten, all over again.
If you’re anything like me (and hopefully, you’re not), it’s often far more convenient to store receipts in your left-hand pants pocket, and once a month, you take out a handful of shredded and highly illegible paper scraps to stick in a drawer somewhere. I do have a nice little receipts envelope for my DayRunner, but I only have one, and I’m loathe to actually write on or otherwise use it, lest my pristine copy be sullied once and for all.
So, in my ongoing curiosity to see how far organisational geeks like myself can be pushed to do strange things in the name of do-it-yourselfness, I’d like to share with you the draft of my new receipts template.
And why is this so strange, you might ask? Well, grab your scissors and favourite adhesive (chewing gum does not count), because this template actually requires you to do cutting, folding and gluing. It’s rather like the projects I remember doing in kindergarten and elementary school. Once you get over the initial embarrassment of not being able to cut exactly on the lines, it’s actually quite fun. See the little diagram below for how it should be cut (the red areas should be cut away). Fold along the obvious dotted lines, and you’re all set.
A few quick notes:
- You should use a slightly heavier stock for the envelope. Standard inkjet/laser paper is too flimsy, and card stock is way too heavy: find something in between, if you can.
- I’ d recommend a waxy-style stick glue. Liquid glue is fairly messy, and will probably warp your paper.
- If you flip over the envelope, you’ll see a little crosshairs. This is where your centre hole should be punched, vertically. (In other words, feed the envelope in so that the middle punch lines up with the crosshairs.) The envelope won’t take up a full page in height or width, but it should still fit nicely in most 5.5″x8.5″ planners.
- The template requires very precise cutting. Err on the side of cutting slightly inside the lines, and it should still work fine.
This is only a draft. As usual, any feedback is welcome. (Yes, I will be getting around to releasing A5 versions of this too.)
Add comment February 4th, 2005