Time for new calendars and planners...

I ❤️ stationery. I don’t have a smartphone (through choice) just a basic Nokia with a contract SIM.

I have bought a planner. We put appointments and events on there but mostly we share the monthly calendar on our iPads which are synch’ed.

I’ve not bought a diary! ??
For The first time in 30 years as I’m not going to write in one at the end of the day any more. I decided this year this would be my last diary so I purposely bought a beautiful A5 size page a day ‘Papermate’ diary to keep a journal. It’s the only one I’m planning to leave behind. It’s a truthful account of each day of 2021 but I’ve been especially mindful that our daughters (or Himself if I go first) may read it so I’ve written positively about family decisions and their actions (or reactions). It’s not completely Pollyanna-ish as that wouldn’t ring true but I have curated it carefully as I went along.

Funny isn’t it, the concept of writing stuff down at the end of the day?

Next year I shall slowly read through 30 years of musings, anxieties, nonsense, happy times and unexpected clips around the ear - mine and for others - friends and family. I haven’t decided what (if anything) to do with them all. They gather dust in a box in my bedside cabinet. Hmm. But now? No more.

I have a page per week diary which I use and check daily (all my life I've done this) for appointments, plans etc. I have a bullet/art journal where I write/draw daily with things that took place that day, anecdotes, memories, thoughts, photos, tickets to concerts, etc - great for mental health, and to aid memory, and as a fun craft) and then I have a weekly diary page I hang on the kitchen noticeboard for the three of us to write our basic daily plans on as my memory is rubbish, and I never remember who I am cooking an evening meal for or if I am supposed to feed my daughter's cat if she is out! I am also an avid daily list-writer, again mainly because my memory is awful!!! All my life I've kept a journal, taking after my Dad, I suppose, but my Mum is dreadful at remembering her daily plans, but can never be persuaded to write things down (even before she got elderly!!). Really couldn't bear doing it on my phone. I can see the practicalities, but it's just not the same (and it's not as though my diary is so full, it's a practical necessity!!)

Countryfile calendar on the back of the kitchen door for me. I’m obsessed with listing my ‘doings’ and check often whilst waiting for the kettle to boil. DH was a nightmare - kept his own diary and arrangements, but never checked with mine - led to countless ‘words’.

Every year for years, we always got a yearly planner from The National Gallery.

But they have stopped doing them. Now looking for something similar.

I have a new diary in my handbag ready for whatever the new year brings. The last two have been remarkably empty!
DD2 bought me a wall calendar depicting scenes from Where the Crawdads Sing. The pictures are beautiful and will remind me of one of the best books I have read in a long time.

Everything on my phone. No more crossings out and easily shared with DH. No more diary, calendar or address book.
The Good morning thread on GN reminds me what day it is.

I use a Filofax mini diary which i’ve used for years (buying updated pages for each new year). Don’t store any appointments/birthdays etc on my phone at all. Also have a 5 year diary which I write in every evening. Just enough space for the day’s events (even if uneventful!). Very useful for points of reference!

Kitchen calendar, house diary and slim diary in my bag. Every couple of weeks I check dates with DH and update them. They used to be busy with stuff we were doing and various medical appointments. Since Covid there are many empty weeks. DH keeps everything on his phone but I prefer a paper record. I'm less likely to lose the house diary than I am to lose my phone. Also a few years ago I started a food diary to plan out our meals for the week. Lots of crossings out as things change but it makes me more aware of using up leftovers and cutting waste. I enjoy physically writing so all this suits me. I do love to write lists.

I have to have a diary and a calendar. Everything on the phone but prefer the former.

DH and I use the calendar on our phones so we can put dates into each other’s calendars automatically. Before lockdown we were also putting some events on a calendar on the kitchen wall but we started using it for menu planning instead. Before I got a smart phone I used a Filo Fax and, to tell the truth, I still miss it. I used to love all the different sections you could buy - maps, reminder pages etc.

I haven’t kept a diary since I was a teenager, when I had one with a lock on!?‍♀️ God knows what I thought was interesting enough to have to hide! DH has kept one for years and is religious about writing it daily. They have actually been very useful over the years.
My cousin sends me their community calendar every year. He lives in a small coastal community in Donegal and each month is a photo taken by very good amateur photographers who live there. I am deeply envious of where he lives until I remember how much rain they have!

I always have 2 diaries. An A6 size week to 2 pages for my bag which goes everywhere with me and an A 5 week to 2 pages which lives in the kitchen on a book rest.
I have a smart phone but never use the diary on it.

I used to love the Dairy diary but everything is now on my phone. Boring but safer!!

I have written in a 5 year diary since I was 10 years old, not the same one obviously!

My mum always bought me a new one when the old one was full, now my DS buys me one, I think I am on my 12th.

I used to love filling in the personal details in my new diary!
Talking of which, do you have a favourite diary? I always used to get the Good Housekeeping diary with account pages, recipes for each month etc and kept them for years after. All those “coffee with X, Y to lunch, Z and children to tea/ play” reminding me of happy days when the children were little and I had a much better social life than these days!

I've got a free charity calendar in the kitchen (Barnado's this time) for keeping track of bin collections. A bigger diary with pictures of Italy in the dining room for making a note of appointments and lunches, and an A5 diary for everything else. I'm another one who likes a written record of things!

I’m a bullet journaller - it’s actually changed my life, it’s incredibly helpful if you have ADHD.

Every year my son gets me a calendar that contains photos of family taken throughout the year.
I also used to bring one back from places I’d travelled on holiday.

No calendar or diary for me. I forget to look at it anyway.

We have a Calendar that hangs on the wall, with large squares that are filled in (MrOops has very large writing) .
But I don’t fill it in until 1st January. Then I back it all up on my ipad.

Used to and I agree it was more exciting, but now everything is on my iPhone, which goes everywhere with me!

I love that 'new school term' feeling of the new year too. I choose myself a beautiful hardback page-a-day diary each year - the December buying of the diary and the writing in (with a fountain pen) of birthdays, anniversaries, addresses etc is a happy ritual in my life.

It becomes my diary, planner, journal and scrap book. I fill it with cards, tickets and interesting bits and pieces which come my way during the year.

A paper diary seems a bit old fashioned now and I see people's eyebrows raise when we are setting appointments/dates and I pull out my diary rather than my phone. I wouldn't be without it and it goes everywhere with me!