How to organize application?

I'm putting together my HSMP application, and it looks like it's going to run at least 50 pages of evidence. How has everyone here organized their applications?

Should I put it in a binder and have a table of contents? Any other obvious suggestions?

Also, is a cover letter a good idea?

Thanks in advance!

We bought a nice professional looking binder and had a table of contents with tabs for each section. The woman who handled it said it was the best presented application she'd ever seen! lol

I used a binder with protective sleeves....and a table of content....made it easiest for me to see what I had and rearrange things as needed.

not to be nosey but...what sort of table of contents would there be? 

I'm picturing it like a school binder theres math, english, history...so on and so forth.

Mine was a spousal visa so I had things like...proof of relationship, financial information, housing accomodations, dependant information

Our sections were Application, Certificates, Funds, Accommodations, and Relationship. The dividers had pockets in them so for each section we included a mini table of contents stating exactly what was in that section and for some of them included an explaination if it wasn't something specifically asked for.

Our sections were Application, Certificates, Funds, Accommodations, and Relationship. The dividers had pockets in them so for each section we included a mini table of contents stating exactly what was in that section and for some of them included an explaination if it wasn't something specifically asked for.

I did the mini table of contents too in each section in the pockets 

not to be nosey but...what sort of table of contents would there be? 

I'm picturing it like a school binder theres math, english, history...so on and so forth.

Reeeka - This post contains my letter for a spousal visa with my table of contents:  http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=27072.0

I put everything inside of clear sheet protectors in a three ring binder with sections separated by heavy colored paper labelled with the section title.  My only problem was that I had a mix of 8 1/2"x11" sheets and A4 sheets, so some thing stuck out the top of the sheet protectors. 

wow thanks everyone...carrie that is CRAZY organized ill have to save that page and take some pointers when my time comes.


one more question...how far in advance should you send everything off? Like we plan to get married in november 08...at what point in the year should we start things and send them off? (never hurts to be informed well ahead of time  )

I put everything inside of clear sheet protectors in a three ring binder with sections separated by heavy colored paper labelled with the section title.  My only problem was that I had a mix of 8 1/2"x11" sheets and A4 sheets, so some thing stuck out the top of the sheet protectors. 

Yup I had that problem too! 

Yup I had that problem too! 

We just folded the bottom back to make them fit in the sleeves.

We just folded the bottom back to make them fit in the sleeves.

I left them the way they were...it as easier than folding them at the back and I'm not much of a perfectionist 

Because all my evidence was on 81/2" by 11", and dh's was in A4, we had two binders with the clear protective, one of his stuff and one of my stuff.  Probably not the most efficient, but it got the job done.  We organized it into similar sections as those mentioned above, and then one table of contents for each binder with a list of what was in each section underneath the heading so whoever looked at it (we did a mailed in application) could reference what they needed.