Calendars | Pad Patter 12.11

I'm a paper calendar person. Digital ones just don't work for the way I use them, I guess. (I like to be able to see an entire week at a time with all the details for each day. Can't do that on my phone, and I'm only near a computer late at night.) I have a paper planner that I've scrapped undated inserts for, and every couple of years I do a print order to get a few years worth of inserts. I also make a yearly Shutterfly calendar for the extended family. I hang ours in the kitchen and keep everything the kids need to know about on it. I think most of the family just uses it for the photos at this point, but they like the monthly photos enough that they still want the calendar.

 

I have the hole punch. It is just too much darn work to make my own pages. And, I don't really need a big, bulky planner binder because let's face it... I don't have a lot going on these days! I also like the bigger squares to write on these days because my handwriting is not the best anymore. I can't write really small like I used to, it gets really shaky looking!

I have repurposed the binder to hold the information cards I get with each order of essential oils I receive. The cards are the size of business cards so I just use the business card holders. It is on the bookshelf and I can pull it out and look at a glance to see what a specific oil or blend can be used for.

 

I do a shutterfly calendar every year as a christmas present for my hubby. It's pretty easy to take 12 layouts from the year and put each one on a 11x8.5 canvas and size down in PSE to fit. I have one for each month and make a fun cover. I just pick a calendar design with a white background and one photo layout and use my layouts for the calendar toppers. Shutterfly keeps track of holidays, birthdays and anniversaries so I just check the ones I want each year and shutterfly does the rest. The best part is that Shutterfly usually has a free wall calendar coupon in the Fall or January so I only have to pay shipping.

 

I make my own calendar and print them at what used to be AdoramaPix. Any that I get in the mail go straight into the recycle bin.

 

I used to get the cow calendar from Chick-fil-A every year but last year they stopped making them. So I picked up a boring calendar from the dollar bins at Target. We used it mostly to track boring things like which weeks the recycle goes out with the trash, time to change the furnace filters, water filters, and give the pets flea and tick treatments. I could use a free one for that but so far I haven't gotten one.

Otherwise, we use the Cozi app for calendar and shopping lists. I finally got the hubby to use it too. I also love my Happy Planner (I have several for different purposes) but the main one sits on my kitchen counter and I use that to see what I am supposed to be doing today.

Now that I am writing this, I could use the Happy Planner for those boring tasks - I even have cute trash and recycle stickers to use - and put some wall art where the calendar used to hang... hmmmm...

 

I live my life by my wall calendar. This time of year I go and shop for a new one. Which I actually love. We do get the odd free calendar, but they would never make it to the wall - I am too fussy!

 

no-one has offered us a free one. Hubby has bought a National Geographic calendar for 2020.

 

Strictly iPhone Calendar for us too. We used to get a few free ones in the mail but then I'd take them to the thrift store that all our things go to. Most charity shops round here take them and keep them in a FREE basket at the door.

I made a one 5x7 cal - the kind that goes in a CD case. Yes, some of you remember what those were... but while he had it on his desk he never really looked at it cause I saw the images never got switched. I sometimes miss my old paper desk calendars at work - the desk blotter size - that used to give me so much pleasure as I tore each month off and then had a clean slate to start again.

 

I just remembered something else about calendars.

I think the calendar I used the most but don't get anymore is one that my former employer put out every year. I don't even know if they still do it but can't imagine they quit since they had been doing it forever. The route drivers would give them to our customers every December. It wasn't one that you could write on because it was small, maybe 3 inches tall and 6 to 7 inches wide. It was in the shape of a truck and had a sheet for every month that you tore off. It had the little stand that you could use to sit it anywhere you wanted. I always had one at work (of course) that I could look to see the date. And, I got one to bring home and it sat on the window sill above the kitchen sink. That is another reason I never used the calendar inside the kitchen cabinet!

 

I like to create one in my bullet journal. I started out wanting it all fancy hand drawn fonts etc, but now I am lucky to get the squares for the month drawn in. Every once in a while I get motivated to use a digital kit to make some stickers to fancy it up a bit. Maybe next year I will do more, lol.

I had bought Barbara Stone's (artist) polar bear calendar but stopped after 19 years. Love her bears!

 

I made one for my grandparents for Christmas this year but I have not made any in a long time. I use Google calendar and my digital planner on my iPad. I use to keep a paper planner until I got my iPad in the spring. DH and I share a calendar with his work schedule and my appointments on it. It works great for us.