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Perpetual Journal Calendar

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At dinner every night, everyone in my family shares one thing they are thankful for from the day. This started in November as we were discussing Thanksgiving and it just stuck. I adore this new tradition. After a rough day of whining and snot and poop on the ceiling (yes, this happened last week) it helps to end the day on a high note.

A few weeks ago, we added something new to our nightly tradition. Pinterest struck again when I saw what I can only call a perpetual journal calendar. It is basically a stack of index cards, one for each day of the year. On line one of an index card you write the year and what you did that day. You continue this until, over the years, you end up with a mini journal of what you did every day of every year.

We keep our calendar on the dining room table and every night I add what we did that day. I like that we will have a timeline of the little things – my daughter’s ballet classes, house projects, dinner guests. And yes, the poop on the ceiling totally made it onto the card.

how to make a journal calendar

What you need

–  365 index cards.  I bought 400 and store the extras in the back of the box.

–  Box. I ordered an old metal rolodex type box from etsy. It has a kitschy old State Farm Insurance sticker on the front and the bottom says “made in Ohio.”   Just like us! You can use any storage container you want.

journal box
rolodex box

–  (Optional) Letter and number stamps. You can handwrite the days on the top of the cards, but I decided to stamp them because my handwriting is not stellar. My fifth grade teacher used to make me stay in from recess to practice my handwriting if that gives you any indication of what I am working with.

Directions

–  Pretty simple.  Write or stamp the days on the top of each card. Like I said, simple.

–  If you are stamping them on the right side of the card like I did, I found the easiest way to do this is to do them in sets by last number. For example, do Jan 1, 11, 21, 31 all at the same time.  Then do 2, 12, 22. Since you need to work from right to left to make sure the stamps line up with the edge nicely it is easiest to do it this way.

journal dates

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Anja

Thursday 21st of March 2013

While I'm enjoying the writing style of your new editor, I have yet to actually see any NEW ideas that she has posted. As a long time reader, I'm fairly disappointed that Baby Gizmo is posting projects that are seen a million times over on Pinterest. Why bother to read about a project that I know is just a repeat of a pin? I agree with not reinventing the wheel, but how about at least improving it?

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