Collecting Your Wall Calendars Over the Years

At a recent barbeque, a family friend revealed that she’s kept every wall calendar she’s used since she got married 30+ years ago. Now, she and her family can look back at what they were doing on any given day or week throughout the years, from little league games to dance recitals to leaving for college. She said it can be funny to see some of the events they’d forgotten (parties at the roller rink in the ‘80s) and exhausting to see just how busy she and her husband were when their kids were in grade school. Her calendars have become a meaningful collection they all treasure.

It’s my favorite kind of collection — simple, easy-to-manage, and sentimental. Since she copies birthdays and anniversaries over from one calendar to the next at the start of every year — even those of relatives who are long gone — her kids know when their great-uncle’s birthday would have been and the date of their grandparents’ wedding anniversary. Even the themes of each calendar serve as a history, reflecting her changing tastes over the years. Overall, it’s a lot of amusement and history in a collection built entirely from functional objects.

While I usually buy a pretty calendar to hang somewhere and then keep track of day-to-day stuff on my phone, I may follow her lead in 2011.

Calendar Shown: 2011 Oversized Wall Calendar by Kitenotes on Etsy, $30.

Image: Kitenotes

Comments (15)

Meh, I'm just not that sentimental. I see the appeal, but you can't hold onto everything. I say just pitch them out!

Now I wish I'd kept more of them. I happen upon them now and then, read and laugh, and then toss. But what a great written history could be made out of that info! I love the birthdays of departed relatives!

I save them because they are documentation - of things I may later need to pinpoint back by date - and, thanks to the old calendar in the closet, will have a starting point for my search.
I also found a place where you can buy 5 year calendars, useful for posting reminders to myself for things I'll need to do at some specific time a year (or two or three) ahead and won't otherwise remember. Thanks to the lovely calendar, I will look at a coming week three years from now, and see things like "renew zzz license," "change the xyz filter," there in the proper time slot, and be saved a lot of loss and headaches because of it.

awww i love that. I'm a sentimental sap. I love it!

I used to save calendars, but threw them away after realizing I only looked at them once a year when I added a new one to the pile in my drawer.

I'd be curious if anyone has found a creative and functional way to store or display old calendars that actually encourages an occasional glance to reminisce.

wow! i am very, very good at parting with things. i do not enjoy clutter, and have few allowances for sentimental collections.
that being said, i am TOTALLY going to start doing this! i only keep a calendar with google right now, but when i start a family i think this idea would be terrific. i especially enjoy the inclusion of birthdays and anniversaries of family members who have passed. i think that's very special, and with my poor memory i just know that i would confuse dates eventually and things like that would get lost in my head.
love love love this.

I keep my old day/week planners. There's just so much information in there that I don't want to part with! Taking a look at them makes a great trip down memory lane =)

I have been using the month by month calendar by linnea design.

Agreed, Hoarders has made me combat those urges to keep extra stuff!

I dunno, I just recently went thru my Outlook cal (I know, not as cute as a wall calendar) for the past 3 years to look up some things, and have found it to be completely NOT interesting. It made me feel exhausted, actually. Maybe after 30 years it will be cool?

I still have the pages from my planner for my senior year. I was so busy, I don't know how I did it. Not only does it remind me of the awesome things I did that year (almost 50 vocal performances!), it also serves as a nice weapon in my classroom. When my seniors start complaining about how busy they are when it comes time to turn in homework, I like to show it to them and then tell them that I graduated with a 3.98. Jerk move? Probably, but they stop complaining. It's all about perspective. :-)

My parents kept the calendar from the year my mom was pregnant with me so I know the dates of when they found out, when they told everyone (and their reactions!), and every little pregnancy milestone. She circled my due date and counted every day I was late after that. Then there was a big star and exclamation points on my birth date followed by well baby check-ups and documenting my first grin. I treasure that little calendar to this day.

I've saved several because i really enjoyed the pictures and had them custom framed. They're proudly displayed in my kitchen now.

I used to always have a calendar like mentioned up. Over the years, mostly from moving and purging my stuff each time, I stopped holding onto calendars. The only one I still have is one I made into a border for my dressing room! I use just the back (vintage superwoman famous scenes) and against the original hulk-green walls of my dressing room.

To keep track of deceased loved ones’ birthdays, I write the date on a rolodex card along with their last address and other info (age, date they died, kids’ names, etc.). I found it too bothersome to hunt for this info on my PC; it's so much easier to just glance at a card. It's easy to find and takes up minimal space. I store these cards at the back of the "letter" so I'm not always thumbing past the dead but I know where they're buried. If I want to remember where my grandma lived for 30 years or my grandparents’ wedding anniversary, it's right there.