Monthly Calendar

Most people have a lot going on and need some type of monthly calendar to set appointments, meetings and know when things are happening. It can quickly become an unreadable mess if you write everything on it in a haphazard way. It will be such a scribbled up mess that you just want to throw it away at the end of the year.

Don't do that. Start using your calendar in a way that not only keeps you organized at the time to make appointments and for knowing what is going on but as a record of the all the fun and interesting things you did that year. Having this information is a great way to have a condensed scrapbook of your life.

It also works as a planning tool for the next year. For example, you will be able to see what times of the year are normally busiest for you and what months are the most fun.

I use the Franklin Planner Book classic size which is 5-1/2 inches by 8 inches. It includes the month along with a page for each day of the year. The daily pages are good for working with all the details of your daily life. At the end of the month I take out all the daily pages and insert the next months daily pages into the Planner Book. I keep all the month's in the Planner Book for the entire year. I keep last year's month's in the Planner Book also.

The month is the important part. I rarely need to look at the daily pages once I am not in that month any more. In fact, I throw out the daily pages after about a year.

I never throw out the monthly calendars. It is filled with all kinds of good and interesting information.

The method I use is based on keeping track of the fun, interesting and important things I have done. I have found that I like to know and remember the fun times in my life and to have a record of what is most important to me. I keep track of the following:

1. Nights I went out with friends. I note who I was with and where we went. I normally put a red D (for drinks) on the day.

2. Names of girls I met. I also keep a separate notebook for this information because it is quite important to me. By the way, when I was married I didn't have this category.

3. Vacations. I now keep a special notebook just for vacations because this is really what I live for and like to look back on.

4. Weekend overnights. I list where I stayed, such as Mom & Dad, friend place, name of hotel, etc.

5. Fun Events. I list what it was such as music concert. I would note the location and artist. I keep the ticket stub and any paper momentoes in a separate file labeled “Events Attended.”

6. Results of Packer games. Just the score, who won and their record to date. All the details can be obtained from other sources. I could see keeping a lot of information on this in the future. I wish I had kept things from 1996, their last Super Bowl winning year.

7. Workouts. I list what body part I worked and/ or what type of cardio workout. I keep a detailed workout notebook in my gym bag.

8. My kid’s events, games and appointments.

9. Anything I attended.

At the end of the month I total some of these things and write it somewhere on that page. One month would look like this, Lift-5 (meaning 5 weightlifting workouts), 4 D (meaning 4 times out for drinks).

Of course I also put in all the work and personal appointments, meetings and events.

I just put short notes on my monthly calendar. The entries are not long at all. It is not that big. A short note is enough to jog my memory even years later. I write as small as I can and in with just enough detail to make it memorable.

Financial type things are tracked in a different way. These things have their own files, such as bills, financial statements/net worth, tax information property information and car maintenance and repair. There just isn't the room. But I would note major car repairs. That type of information is important to know when you are planning.

I knew a guy who kept track of a huge amount of stuff. He kept track of how many times he mowed his lawn, how often and how much it rained, snowed and temperatures and all kinds of other things.

He read multiple newspapers, magazines, collected music CD’s and just generally was an encyclopedia of that type of information. He would record all kinds of this information. I never saw it. It must have a combination of a huge calendar and very small writing.

I guess it was his hobby or his passion to keep track of such things. I wouldn’t want to go to that extent, but he seemed to be happy to do it. He was handy to have around, you could just ask him how much it snowed last year and he would look it up and give you the information in a few seconds.

I guess with a computerized system you could record an enormous amount of information.

I only like to keep track of what is most important to me at that time in my life. I like to look back in my records and reflect on the good times and events but I am not that interested in mundane happenings. By keeping the calendars I can see what other things I should take the time to add in the future.

I consider my monthly calendar one of my most important and prized possessions. I like to think of it as a record of the living I’ve done.

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