Sentimental Attachments: Old Agenda Books

March 20, 2013

This blog is full of posts bursting at the margins with tips for ridding your home of clutter, and learning to disassociate material items from emotional attachments. I stand by each and every one of those.

Truth is though, we all have some items that we regard as uniquely special, which we will continue to make space for in our lives.

Turns out that I’m a human too; a small person of 5′ 2″ who has feelings like the rest of you. And today I wanted to prove that fact by sharing one thing I’m emotionally attached to that no longer has any quantifiable value, that serves no functional purpose: old calendars.

I always hold onto old planners/agenda books/ calendars. Filled with my own handwriting and documenting the coming’s and going’s of one whole year, those books seem not so much books to me as little slivers of my life.

A certain sensation comes over me whenever I casually flip through them, and it hasn’t much at all to do with retreating into the past. It’s life affirming, see.

As I skim the calendar pages and read all those little notes–the doctor’s appointments at 10:30, and the dentist on Friday at 2:00, and the reminders of now long-passed upcoming deadlines, I’m overcome with the feeling of having lived. Seeing the minutiae of the everyday is proof of my own existence. It connects the dots between the events my memory is able to retain, which are almost always only the highest and the lowest moments.

I keep them because they feel like little windows into the days of my life.

How about you? How do you handle old agenda books?

Image credits: Brave Girls ClubDesign Sponge
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8 Comments

  1. Nicki on March 20, 2013 at 6:21 am

    I DO THIS TOO! Someone help ussss

  2. Amanda Jayne on March 20, 2013 at 7:02 am

    I have all of my old calendars- they are in the same big bin that holds all my old journals and notebooks. I have thought about getting rid of them, but I just can’t. I like looking back at the notes and memories, and there is a lot of good information there. I can’t count the number of times I’ve looked up a date or event.

    I’m not sure were the line will be. Right now I have about 20 years worth of journals and 7ish of agendas….it remains to be seen if I will ever feel that it’s just too much and get rid of something.

  3. Tidy-Up Gal on March 20, 2013 at 8:54 am

    It’s so hard for me to throw them away. I prefer, if I could, to burn them, because I feel like even if I have to get rid of them, simply throwing them in the trash is not enough.

    • livesimplybyannie on March 20, 2013 at 9:07 am

      Right! I almost mentioned this. Throwing them away feels so exposing, like anyone could open them up and see the most intimate details of my life.

  4. Heather on March 20, 2013 at 9:50 am

    Now I don’t feel so bad about the fact I haven’t been able to get rid of mine! Somehow they always make the clutter cut.

  5. Monica on March 20, 2013 at 8:17 pm

    My old calendar books are my all time favorite. I used to work for Disney and besides the trivia and colorful images are all the meeting/sport appointments, sick kid symptoms, my feelings/mood and countdowns for Christmas shopping and back to school. They are more like diaries and I could never part with them.

  6. Tsvi Mier on March 20, 2013 at 9:40 pm

    Well Annie, I suppose that I used to hold onto those items which I felt kept me glued to my treasured sense of past, as I attempted to speed into future—but no longer. Nope. Clean slate. Clean house. Clean and lean mind. Thrilling. Now, mustard jars in the refrigerator dating to 1989….these I treasure.

  7. flynnschool on December 31, 2014 at 6:03 am

    ha ha…i just came across a “bin”
    of old planners and notebooks 🙂

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8 Comments

  1. Nicki on March 20, 2013 at 6:21 am

    I DO THIS TOO! Someone help ussss

  2. Amanda Jayne on March 20, 2013 at 7:02 am

    I have all of my old calendars- they are in the same big bin that holds all my old journals and notebooks. I have thought about getting rid of them, but I just can’t. I like looking back at the notes and memories, and there is a lot of good information there. I can’t count the number of times I’ve looked up a date or event.

    I’m not sure were the line will be. Right now I have about 20 years worth of journals and 7ish of agendas….it remains to be seen if I will ever feel that it’s just too much and get rid of something.

  3. Tidy-Up Gal on March 20, 2013 at 8:54 am

    It’s so hard for me to throw them away. I prefer, if I could, to burn them, because I feel like even if I have to get rid of them, simply throwing them in the trash is not enough.

    • livesimplybyannie on March 20, 2013 at 9:07 am

      Right! I almost mentioned this. Throwing them away feels so exposing, like anyone could open them up and see the most intimate details of my life.

  4. Heather on March 20, 2013 at 9:50 am

    Now I don’t feel so bad about the fact I haven’t been able to get rid of mine! Somehow they always make the clutter cut.

  5. Monica on March 20, 2013 at 8:17 pm

    My old calendar books are my all time favorite. I used to work for Disney and besides the trivia and colorful images are all the meeting/sport appointments, sick kid symptoms, my feelings/mood and countdowns for Christmas shopping and back to school. They are more like diaries and I could never part with them.

  6. Tsvi Mier on March 20, 2013 at 9:40 pm

    Well Annie, I suppose that I used to hold onto those items which I felt kept me glued to my treasured sense of past, as I attempted to speed into future—but no longer. Nope. Clean slate. Clean house. Clean and lean mind. Thrilling. Now, mustard jars in the refrigerator dating to 1989….these I treasure.

  7. flynnschool on December 31, 2014 at 6:03 am

    ha ha…i just came across a “bin”
    of old planners and notebooks 🙂

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply





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