Cheap Correspondance

I am a big believer in the thank you note.  I suppose I never had an option, seeing as how my gram will call me if I don't get them out soon enough to remind me.  She is so passionate about the thank you note that she will no longer give presents to people if she doesn't receive thank you notes in return.  Gotta love a woman with beliefs.  But I digress...

After getting married and having a child, I have had many an occasion in which I needed to write thank you notes.  Yesterday, after thanking people for Christmas, I had fifteen cards to mail.  While stationery isn't terribly expensive, the sheer quantity that I use can become costly quickly.  As a result I have adopted the motto that it is the sentiment that counts, not the card I put it on. And lets be honest, most people throw out (recycle) thank you notes as soon as they receive them, so why pour a lot of money into it?

  

Above are some examples of stationery I have used.  There are blank cards left over from college graduation announcements, Christmas thank you cards I got for attending a frugal living seminar, and countless cards that I have received as gifts.  In fact I think the only set that I purchased were the Italy cards on the bottom right.  Not all of these cards are my style, but again, I use them because I have them. 

 I also have this box that I have had from childhood.  I keep my loose sets of cards in here as well as assorted envelopes.  Freaking frugal confession:  If I get a card in an envelope that hasn't been sealed or written on, I save it.  I've found it EXTREMELY helpful when I've lost an envelope to a stationery set to have odd sized envelope, and find this to be a worthwhile frugal effort. 

The other way I've been able to save money is to use pretty paper (all gifts) like this with a random rescued envelope. It is cheap, easy, and doesn't weigh a lot.

Using what I have, not being picky, and saving envelopes has saved me a lot of money when it comes to correspondence.  If only postage wasn't so dang much...