The Invaluable Wall Calendar

 

Property of Stormberry.
Calendar: Llewellyn's Witch Calendar, 2023
Spanish edition

Today I looked at my wall calendar, as I do often when I walk by it, and I noticed that some chips I have in the pantry will expire in three weeks. At that moment I thought I should be finding a way to consume them all because I still have a whole bunch of them (that's why these wholesale-like places like PriceSmart make no sense to small families or people who live alone). My mind went rolling on and I thought about getting a kitchen wall calendar to note there the expiration date of all the things I buy, so I can plan their use or consumption to make the most of them.

I imagined a conversation with someone, and how someone would argue in favor of a digital option, and I realized that the digital option may not be up to task for this particular thing. Or maybe won't work for everybody.

I do use daily my digital calendars and mostly my phone alarms, to program my meals, my pills and my wake up alarms. However, even with their extensive use, I know how easily you can ignore the alarm, snooze it or down right turn it off because you are otherwise occupied. Then, the alarm is gone and you may forget about it completely. Unless you have the habit of checking your calendar daily. unpropted, you may not be aware of things that may happen in the near future you should prepare for, such as expiring goods and services.

You may argue that an agenda or a calendar may not work because you are not in the habit of checking the agenda or calendar, and here I disagree. The trick with the agenda and the calendar is to have it always out, always visible. It might be hard to do with an agenda, but with a calendar - specially a wall calendar - the principle of marketing applies: if there is a picture, people will look at it. Just a glance, a passing glance and you might, within seconds, be reminded of subscriptions and bills that are coming due, a meeting or a get together, a doctor's appointment and so on. You may check your phone every five minutes, but how often do you check your digital calendar? Yes, alarms might help, but it's not much help if you have to prepare for an event and some of the things you need take time.

Penciling in a trip in a wall calendar may remind you to check for luggage, to pack, to make sure your passport hasn't expired, that you have your travel insurance, and so on. And it might be much easier that in your phone.

Think about it.