Spending an hour in a Hallmark once every six months is a much better use of your time than 15 individual 15-minute trips. You’re going to have to look through all the cheesy cards to find the good ones anyways, so why wait until most of them have changed and you have to look through them all again?

I only want to go once, so beforehand I always print off a list of upcoming birthdays, anniversaries and the like from my calendar to ensure I’m as comprehensive as possible.

Keep all your cards in one folder/envelope/box at home depending on how many you have, or if you’re using a tickler file you could just stick it in there. I usually attach a post-it with the person’s name and the occasion (if it’s not obvious) to make things easier later on.

I still have to hoof-it back to Hallmark or the drugstore for the occasional person I forgot or for cards that are only available seasonally (like Father’s Day), but for the most part I’ve got this down to a science.