Do you keep old Calendars/Diaries?

I’ve got proper ‘dear diary’ entries for 38 years. They’re all in a box in the wardrobe. I never read them. Not sure what to do with them now. I stopped writing them 2 years ago. Family illness, worry and busyness put me off. Still. I need to think about that box.

Having kept a 5 year diary since I was 10, (now in my early 70’s), yes, I have several of them!

They are stored in a wicker hamper in a wardrobe.

Don’t know what to do with them. No earth shattering secrets within them really, but do I want my AC to read them after I’ve gone?

Having said that, my late mum left a few diaries. I looked through them, but the one I retained was from the year I was born. Nothing too exciting ‘Baby girl arrived, 1am’ on date of my birth!

I have just ditched a couple this week. Nice pictures...but what do I want with them now??.
I do have my mother's book of days which I do love. She didn't make many entries but I have over the last 10 years or so and I enjoy reading what I did on a day in the last 10 years when I make an entry this year on that date even if it is "poured with rain and cold" when this year it is 3rd day of the heatwave.
I like to have a hard copy diary each year. Just a slim one with 7 days per page. But they get ditched after a year or so when I don't need to refer back for any reason. These days they are mostly filled with health, or bad health, stuff.

For 30 to 40 years I have kept my children’s uni and school stuff in boxes in a spare room along with personal stuff cards letters etcit’s never been looked at and I am trying very hard to get my ducks in a row so my daughter (the only one near enough) doesn’t have to do it when I pop my clogs

I ve asked them all and they said to get rid of it so bit by bit I m sifting it down into the paper bin so far I ve kept some of their junior school bits and their personal stuff but that might have to go as well at some point
I had my sons keep fit stuff there too he’s been in NZ 28 years so with his permission I offered it to my grandson his nephew who lives near me and he took a few weights but left a lot behind so bit by bit I ve been putting it next to my bin each day and each day it’s disappeared within an hour so someone somewhere nearby is building themself a home gym Win/win
I ve a long way to go but I m plodding on

I used to keep a diary years ago, but only to remind of where I was supposed to be, with whom and why!
Once mobile phones came with calendars, for me, there was no need to buy diaries. However, as a contradiction, I do like a big calendar affixed to the kitchen door, on which I also enter birthdays/appointments etc and I keep the previous one for exactly a year.
This started as DH never listened to my plans and would often ring me to find out where I was - my reply would be ‘look on the calendar!’

I have kept a Diary since I was in High School - recently I destroyed most of them , except those of the last 4 years. I have a tendency to pour my heart into my diaries. I wouldnt want the children to read them after I’ve gone - there are happy pages, sad pages, pages full of angst, occasional anger. So it’s best to stay between my Diary and me 😂

I haven’t kept a diary since school, but for some reason this year I decided to start one, just for daily thoughts and doings. It has been quite useful. DH kept meticulous diaries, but he also stuffed them full of reciepts, tickets and miscellaneous bits of paper! I have kept the last twenty years worth and they have actually proved to be quite useful on occasion.
I’m afraid I can’t throw calendars away. My cousin in Ireland sends me their community calendar every year, full of lovely photos, some of which he has contributed, and I also have an art one every year from DD, reflecting whatever I’m into at the time. The last two years it’s been Angela Harding, the lino cut print artist.

I started to keep a diary during the first lockdown but have given up now. I still have the diaries from 2020 though and can’t bring myself to get rid of them. I have also kept the Orders Of Service from funerals for the last 10-12 years,but had a cull of them yesterday and have only kept those for close family and friends. Do other people keep these?

My Mum kept diaries all her life. They were left to me in her Will. Sadly a family member let himself into her home and stole them along with cash and all the family photos.

I was heartbroken but the Police said they could not help as it is a civil matter. 😢

Recently we had a cull of things stored in an ottoman bed. Birthday and anniversary cards sent by relatives and friends no longer with us and diaries made long before mobile phones were a ‘thing’.
I was ruthless and after reading through them all just put them in the recycle bin- it was hard but what use were they? The memories evoked were re- lit once again so the physical copies were no longer required.
Having said that I’ve kept 2020 and 2021 diaries due to the references to the pandemic and how life changed almost overnight.
I also kept a couple of work diaries just as a reminder to me of how I used to juggle that FT job along with family and household ‘stuff’. They’ll eventually go too. No use to anyone else. It was a tricky morning but very therapeutic too.
I recommend it and have also done similar with jewellery sending much of it to the Alzheimer’s Society- they were running campaign and supplying envelopes so I ordered some and filled them with mainly costume but some semi precious stones too.

Redcar

Orders Of Service from funerals?

Yes, I keep them, in a briefcase in the loft.

I like to see what hymns and readings other people chose, and also marvel at how long ago they died. Seems like yesterday, but then realise several years have passed.

I have kept a diary since 1980. I have them all. Until 2000 I wrote a brief summary in an actual diary but from then I typed up a more detailed diary. These are printed off and kept in a Whicker basket. Every now and again I reread them. Younger son knows where they are and will donate them to a diary collection place. There are several, usually attached to Women’s Studies departments who would be interested

I have all my Dad’s diaries. They are the tiny Smiths ones but he wrote all his accounts in them and details of holidays including what they ate on each day.
I keep my calendars as I get an annual one with pictures of the DGC.

I have so many birthday and Christmas cards pushed into a cupboard where the old photo albums are, no use whatsoever and we will be moving at some point so I need to get rid of them. Not the photo albums of course though they are falling apart so will need to move the photos to new albums.

Old diaries and cards are clogging up my drawers and cupboards. I really need to get rid of them. Decluttering taking ages

Redcar yes I keep Funeral Rite photo cards of person who passed…

I’ve got to shred so much paperwork that the shredder keeps clogging up but must prevail with decluttering

BlueBelle also have daughters School Books/Artwork/Uni text books etc and in the past, she’s told me to get rid.. 😢

Suppose it’s pure sentiment that I hold onto them

I don’t see the point of keeping AC’s school work, reports etc. If they don’t want them, they could be binned.

It’s surprising how unsentimental they are about stuff if they are the ones having to store it, ok to be at Mum’s though.

Mmm I’ve been wondering what to do about my diaries. I started writing every day about ten years ago. When my mum was ill I needed a bigger one as I had lots of things to remember appointments etc.
Now I’m still able to write half a page every day and I do enjoy going back through them now and again, but I definitely wouldn’t want anyone else looking through them either.
I think next year I’ll try a five year diary and try and write less.

My late father kept a small diary all his life - mainly detailing what work he'd done and the weather - and, after retirement, what he'd eaten. The entry for my wedding just said I had got married and it was a wet day! After my mother died and he declined the entries became rather sad - I skimmed through one or two and then burnt them all.
It was moving though to see that his final entry written days before he died just said that I had taken him outside in a wheelchair.

Calendars yes….simply because our DS makes one specially for us every year .

mamaa

Recently we had a cull of things stored in an ottoman bed. Birthday and anniversary cards sent by relatives and friends no longer with us and diaries made long before mobile phones were a ‘thing’.
I was ruthless and after reading through them all just put them in the recycle bin- it was hard but what use were they? The memories evoked were re- lit once again so the physical copies were no longer required.
Having said that I’ve kept 2020 and 2021 diaries due to the references to the pandemic and how life changed almost overnight.
I also kept a couple of work diaries just as a reminder to me of how I used to juggle that FT job along with family and household ‘stuff’. They’ll eventually go too. No use to anyone else. It was a tricky morning but very therapeutic too.
I recommend it and have also done similar with jewellery sending much of it to the Alzheimer’s Society- they were running campaign and supplying envelopes so I ordered some and filled them with mainly costume but some semi precious stones too.

You said the memories were relit, and that’s great. However, if you forgot them before, and are now disposing of the diaries, what’s to keep them alive once they’ve gone? Just a thought. Perhaps have a rethink?

Please,please keep them. Sorry to sound so pedantic but they are important milestones in the history of your family. So much is on digital media that these important words and pictures will be lost. Where would we be without Samuel Pepys diaries? Not just recording huge events but everyday life that people forget.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I’ve got proper ‘dear diary’ entries for 38 years. They’re all in a box in the wardrobe. I never read them. Not sure what to do with them now. I stopped writing them 2 years ago. Family illness, worry and busyness put me off. Still. I need to think about that box.

Give them to a local historical society or to a library with the proviso that they are first to be made public in fifty years or so.

They may well be useful to future historians, but you need to protect living relatives of the people you may have mentioned, or erase names before handing them over.

I think that if my children found my diaries, which were written during an absolutely terrible time in my marriage. They would be shocked!
They think the sun- shines out of my husband's bottom!
During this period, he was taking a 'woman' up to the forest, as "Her old dog couldn't walk that far anymore"!
This went for many, many months apparently. Untill I found- out about it purely by chance!
If my children did find my diarys,
I hope they would stop putting the big-headed git on a pedestal!