Scribble things in the margins in December (but that's messy).
Sometimes I scribble on the back side of the calendar (but there's a danger I'll forget to look there).
Other years I've gone online found plain calendar sheets for the year in question and printed out a few blank sheets and stored my dates on those until I can find what I want, but that's kind of boring and I have to fool with loose sheets.
More often I buy an inexpensive calendar I don't like from the local dollar store and hang it up until I find the calendar I really want. I'm not fond of the cheaper ones because the corners flop over sometimes and the pages tear, but if I"m going to spend a decent amount of money for a calendar, I want it to be something I'll enjoy looking at all year. The trick is in finding the right one. It has to have boxes big enough to write a lot of things on one date, it has to have the major holidays and special days on it, and it has to have interesting (or pretty or fun) images.
I kind of like this one, but I'm not sure. I've had a lot of country calendars over the years and I like them, but maybe I should go for something different next year.
Maybe a Chihuly calendar...
Edward Gorey...
The Reading Woman (I really like this one)...
Or Star Trek
5 comments:
My chemist gives out a free calendar at the end of each year. A beautiful picture & big squares to write in. Works for us.
Mary, good point. When I was growing up, lots of places used to give out calendars. Now that's really rare around here. The Realtor who sold us our house used to do that, but he's retired now, so I've lost my only source.
I buy a dollar-store monthly calendar in Aug/Sept every year (watching like a hawk till they come out, as they sell quickly). Alas, there are no pretty pictures (other than on the cover), but one month is laid out on two pages, so the boxes are bigger than those of most calendars. They usually have sturdy leather-type covers so they last.
Funny thing. I've been going through my old income taxes, where I keep such things. In the seventies, when life was so simple then (ha!), I used regular-sized calendars and wrote appointments, dates, etc. on them. Once I had kids in the eighties, I wrote on binder-sized pages. However, I was so cheap that I erased as I went so I could reuse those pre-printed pages (which just said Jan 1, for example, on them) - year after year after year. By 1995, my mom was dying and I had to keep referring back to details (like doctor appointments) to tell various family members, so I used a little hardcover date book (about 5"x8"). I continued to use other date books about the same size - even using pens! However, there still was too much information to cram onto those pages, so I started printing my own binder pages by 1998. Since then, I have printed those pages every year in late Dec, with Jan 1, for example, on the "front" and Jan 2 on the "back" of the binder page. On each page, I have various birthdays, anniversaries, death dates, and household reminders (like switching the fans from clockwise to counter-clockwise around Oct 15) noted. I keep those "date books" every year (as I DO refer back to them), as well as the dollar-store month-at-a-glance books to give me the highlights (so I know where to look on the detailed binder pages).
So ... much as I'm shredding an awful lot of old income tax papers, I am also keeping certain receipts (like those for our furnace and air conditioner), plus my two types of calendars, which my kids will have to shred/probably burn when I'm gone, as I refer back to them several times a year.
Today I should be able to finish the lot so that I "only" have ten years on hand, and then I can shred as I go, year to year. At least that's the plan - especially if I don't allow for extra space to be used later on!
Elaine, oh yes, on referring back. I keep my calendars and often check back to see what I did when (when I need to, that is--doctors appointments, family gatherings, due dates for books). And I am a receipt hoarder. I keep all the year's receipts in a plastic lidded box (which has saved my bacon several times when I needed to check on something or return it). At the end of the year, we sort through the receipts and keep the important ones. The others I eventually shred. But for major appliances, electronics, furnishings and so forth, I staple the receipt into whatever documentation, warranties or user manuals came with the product. I have accordion files of warranties and user manuals (4 of them) and on the bigger or more expensive items, I can check back at any time to see when and where we bought it and what we paid for it. It's interesting from a historical perspective but also useful when we need to make a new purchase.
I keep manuals and receipts in sheet protectors in four or five large binders (so we're quite similar in this too!). However, some receipts are kept for "household maintenance" because I'm self-employed, so I've kept them with my income taxes. Around here, we are supposed to keep our income taxes back 7 years, but sometimes I've read 10 when self-employed, so 10 it is for me. Better safe than sorry.
I also used to keep a binder with magnetic photo album pages in it, keeping scraps and/or pictures of the decor/paint in each room. We haven't updated very much in the last decade and now I think, "Who cares?", so that album will probably be tossed too. Way too much clutter around here. (And just when I get rid of said items, I'll "need" them a week or so later. No doubt in my mind....)
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