Do a search on here, I’m pretty sure Merlin posted about his dropping of the physical folders.

I like them because I like to stick things like invites, articles I need to have read by a certian date and the like in there, but they are not essential. Focus on the core concepts, like the action list and the weekly review. You can worry about a tickler filer later. If it works for you then great, if not then use what does work for you.

It’s not really that intimidating, I don’t think. I’ve got a set, and they’re a bit more than 1” thick total when empty. And they do tend to be empty, except for a few papers reminding me to do preventive maintenance or calibrations on particular pieces of equipment.

There are obviously variations on it: you may do fine with folders for each day of the upcoming week, a single “next week” folder, and another “after next week” folder. If you can review them regularly and move items from the more future folders to the more present ones, then no problem.

I used to have a set of 43 folders, but I live in multiple states and it was too annoying to lug them back and forth.

I setup a Google Calendar with SMS and/or email alerts and recurring tasks. This has worked even better than folders for me, actually, because in many cases I’m truly only reminded of something exactly when I need to be.

For example, “change Sonicare toothbrush head” is in my Tickler, set to recur every six months and to email me one day before. I get the email, I change the toothbrush head. Boom.

I have a recurring weekly event for “Trash Night” at 8pm on Thursdays, with an SMS alert five minutes prior. I get the alert, I take out the trash, if I haven’t already.

For anything that is paper-based that you need to keep and can’t scan, I keep ONE folder but put a reference to the folder in my GCal Tickler calendar. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a physical thing to deal with, thankfully.

Rather than use 43 folders, which I found to be simply too much, I’m using a 9 folder system: one folder for each day of the week, a “Next Week” folder, and a “After Next Week” folder. Each Sunday, I check those last two folders, and place their contents (if any) in the appropriate folder for the week to come.

I found these 2 online today.

1 at Staples (hard to find in an actual store) and 1 at another site, for more $.

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?&langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&productId=13013&cmArea=SEARCH

http://www.orgcoach.net/products/tickle.html