Keeping planners forever?

So I’m not huge into the whole “planner world” like some other people are, but I have dabbled just a little bit (100% thanks to SHU and her planning content/podcast). I don’t really like change very much, so I don’t see myself bouncing around and trying all different products and dayplanners, though.

I did switch/ “upgrade” to the Wonderland222 planner and notebook system last year (from my previously used BlueSky planner from Target!), thanks to her recommendation, which overall, I have really enjoyed using! (The 2022 version is currently en route to my house.)

I used to use the Blue Sky planner as my calendar, and then a big spiral grid notebook for my habit tracking/goal setting/journal pages.

After a few years of this, I realized- the notebook was BIG! Especially with the spiral rings….and, it was just thick.

But I knew myself, and I didn’t want to just throw my notebooks away at the end of the year. I actually really enjoy reading back over my entries, looking at what I was up to/thinking/feeling….Throwing them away would, to me, defeat the whole purpose of using them!

I also really like keeping my planners!! I currently have ALL of these stuck in the bottom drawer of my desk. (2021 was when I switched to the Wonderland- I wanted something smaller and more compact to store.)

I can’t bear the thought of throwing them away!! It is so fun to flip through them.

For example, I opened 2016 and saw “Buy SeaWorld tickets” from a day in September, just before our first family trip to Disney/Orlando. I can see “Asher- Swim Team eval!” from a day in August, as he was looking to join the swim team! There is an entry that says “Lunch w/ Kelly”- an old friend I rarely see. But seeing this entry immediately took me back to that lunch out- I can remember exactly where we went, and a whole bunch of other good memories I might never have thought about again came flooding back.

It is also really fun to see what kinds of appointments and activities we had during different stages. (Tennis. Soccer. “Futsal”. School fun runs! B-day parties. Weddings. Baby showers. Even things like “volunteer- swim meet 4:30- 7:00” brings back specific memories of that swim meet, in that month, on that weekend.)

I AM rather appalled at my chicken scratch handwriting/ MESSY calendar grids!!! (Embarrassingly, this is kind of my default style. I have to work hard to keep it neat…the Wonderland is much smaller, so I tend to be much more careful- not as much room for error.) Obviously I guess in the past I wasn’t bothered by crossing stuff out though, at least not in 2016!! Eek.

Check out the size difference between the Wonderland and my old planners:

Same goes for the notebook system:

I figure I can save years of notebooks and planners in these smaller sizes in just a couple boxes! The old ones would take up way too much space to justify saving them. (And, my husband would probably sneak downstairs and throw them all away while I was sleeping some night! 😆)

The new system also ensures that when I’m dead someday, my kids will have fewer heavy boxes to lug to the garbage can. Hahahahaha!!!

Do you save journals and/or planners??

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for Goodreads!! I keep book lists in my notebook, too, but I love being able to just add a book to my “Want to Read” list from my phone and keep track electronically. I also love exploring recommended books on there. (And I like their newsletter! Fun to see new releases and other recs.)