We love calendars of any and all kinds but nothing beats an old-fashioned, boxy wall calendar with photos related to one of your random interests or of hot men lovingly holding baby animals. Sometimes wall calendars with monthly images seem sort of archaic, like a bad gift your confused great-grandmother might give to you on someone else’s birthday. But you’d be hard-pressed to find something more useful for general planning than a wall calendar (or 3 or 7). Grab all the ones you can find, and some Sharpies of various colors, and let’s get planning.
The Chain
Jerry Seinfeld apparently is credited with popularizing the “don’t break the chain” method of forming a habit. All this involves is marking days with a big X when you’ve accomplished your task. It forms a chain after you’ve been doing it for a bit and the idea is to, of course, not go a day without. So get down to that habit you’ve been trying to create and whip out a wall calendar.
This method also works well for NOT doing something, like quitting smoking or drinking. In that case, you’ll have to wait until the end of the day to mark it off.
The Countdown
Go the opposite route of The Chain and you’ve got yourself a big showy countdown. Yes, it will look exactly the same if you just use an X, but the fun part is crossing off that day you’ve finished, not the chain. Get your markers and think of some wacky symbol.
Is your best friend Amandoll visiting soon? Do you have a vacation or raise coming up? Your birthday, maybe? Indulge yourself with the small satisfaction of dramatically crossing off each day as it passes, getting you closer to your exciting event!
The Roommates (Pt. 1)
If you live with people, whether they are friends, significant others, family, or Just Roommates, the wall calendar is a useful tool for group planning. At its most basic, you can mark off when you’ll be away from home. Whether this you get some peace and quiet, or that you’re lonely, it’s nice to have advance warning. Especially of when they’re coming back, so you can hide all your weird shit and put your pants back on.
The Roommates (Pt. 2)
This can be a reminder to roommates that you need your plants watered, cats fed, or to clean their goddamn room. I guess this depends on the kind of relationship you have with them. If you’re best pals go ahead and fill that calendar up with everything you’re going to do together all the time. You can also probably stand to remind forgetful roommates that it’s garbage day.
The Moods
If you want to track your mood, there are many great apps for that, but what’s better than drawing a big smiley face in a box right on your wall? Not much, I’ll tell you! Mood tracking apps get very detailed and outrageously over-featured. We’ve tried a bunch, and while we each found one we liked, I believe the marker-on-paper way is classically perfect and almost universally accessible. The choice of symbols is yours; you can choose from sad face or happy face, or you can add more nuance to your tracking however you’d like, with eyebrows, different color markers, or just go ahead and write some words if you want.
The Contest
Let’s go back to The Chain and put a twist on it. You and your roommate each grab a marker and try to outdo each other with plans. The more the better. Go big or go home.
