How To: A Perpetual Calendar (Now with Pictures!)

>> Thursday, June 24, 2010

Well, better late than never, that's what I always say...

Anyway! We are talking about a really nifty tool today: A Perpetual Calendar. I don't know about you, but I am incapable of remembering people's birthdays (including my own), anniversaries etc..These dates never change and yet; I just can't seem to stay on top of them. I want to be good about remembering these things, but alas, I am just not naturally on that "wavelength". But, I have discovered a way to help me keep track of all of those recurring, important dates! My perpetual calendar even helps me remember when my water bill is due: it is a beautiful thing.

I first encountered a perpetual calendar at my Grandmother's house. We have a gigantic family and yet my grandmother always, always, always remembered birthdays and other special days with cards and phone calls. I wondered for a long time how she did this, until I noticed a large, poster sized wall hanging on the inside door of one of her kitchen cabinets; this was her perpetual calendar. It showed every month and had lines to write in recurring events. Grandma had written in every single important date; this way she could simply glance at the calendar and always know what events were coming up. And this was reusable year after year! I thought it was just brilliant. After unsuccessfully looking all over for a similar calendar and finding nothing (unless I was willing to pay an obscene amount of money) I made my own!

It was super easy and now I'm sharing with you. There are actually a couple ways to do this. The one I found that I liked best (but didn't want to pay for) was a small binder style and so that's what I made; you can make whatever style works best for you.
Here's what I did.

Binder Style Perpetual Calendar in 3 Easy Steps:

You'll need: a computer and printer, a small 1/2 in. binder, 12 tabbed binder folders

1. Create a 2 column x 31 row table on your computer. Number the 1st column with the days of the month (you can print out a bunch that are 30 days and then add 31 and print out a bunch of these) and leave the second column blank. I made my first column really skinny and the second column much wider, to give myself room to write. You can type in a heading for the specific month if you'd like.

2. I bought 12 folders with tabs made specifically for binders. These can be kind of expensive, so I waited until I found them on sale at an office supply store. I glued each month onto a separate tab; now I had 12 folders with calendars. The folders are where I put cards, envelopes for bills etc...

3. Fill in the calendars with the events you want to remember (I also add birth years and anniverary years so I can remember ages/number of years married etc...I admit, I have a terrible memory for such things) and keep the calendar someplace you can and will check it frequently.

That's it! So easy! And now, I am doing a much better job of keeping up with birthdays, anniversaries and when my account is going to be debited for the cell phone! All in all, keeping track of dates on paper is a much better system than trying to remember.

Go forth! Make a calendar! Make everyone jealous with your amazing ability to remember even the most obscure holidays and anniversaries! Give your husband a place he can look, just in case he can't remember if your anniversary is the 14th or the 15th! You'll be everyone's favorite.

5 comments:

NeedANap2 June 24, 2010 at 9:05 PM  

Another quick way is to write it the week (or longer) before the actual date making note of said important date. :) Of course, I never do this either but do as I say, not as I do! :) I use my yahoo calendar for reminders and it sends me an e-mail, very helpful!

Morgan Hagey June 25, 2010 at 8:12 AM  

I think you should put up a picture of your calendar. I am a visual learner.

Erin June 25, 2010 at 8:21 AM  

Umm, yes, about those pictures. One of the reasons for the rather late post was there were some technical difficulty with the camera...someone, who shall remain nameless, neglected to charge her camera battery...I'll update with pictures as soon as that someone fixes the problem. :-)

Not Everyones Mama June 25, 2010 at 9:35 AM  

I totally need to make one. I put everything in my phone, but my husband is constantly asking, when is Jordan's game? when is Kat's game? what day was this. He needs this. LOL

Anonymous,  June 29, 2010 at 6:31 PM  

If you use Google calendars, you can create a specific calendar for all your perpetual dates (even including car registration, or insurance renwal). It is it's own calendar, yet it's intermingled with your normal events.

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