I think it is pretty safe to say that we all use a calendar! I particularly enjoy browsing through all of the calendars for the new year. Buying a new calendar is the first step in preparing for the new year and getting a fresh start.

I find it amazing each year how excited I get in December to get the old calendar down and hang the new one. I live with a cronic day slasher. You know, the type that has to cross out every day on the calendar as it comes to an end! It is almost like the day can not be complete until that calendar box has been slashed! It drives me crazy because it just clutters up the calendar so much! I guess this is one of the things that leads me to the excitement of tossing out the old and replacing it with the new! By the end of the year that old calendar is looking pretty battered from all of our family activities and the slash marks!

Wait just a minute! No matter how old, slashed and battered that poor calendar is...do NOT throw it out! Do you realize that this old calendar has captured many of your families activities throughout the year? When you go to scrapbook that picture of Susie's school play but you can't remember the date...pull out your old calendar and voila! Can't remember what month cousin Josie came to visit...viola! So your old calendar can be a very handy tool when it comes to journaling.

Instead of tossing your calendar into the trash at the end of the year why not keep it with your pictures as a tool to help you remember dates of events. You will truly be amazed at how helpful this tool will become as you go back to journal in your scrapbook!

**Bonus Tip- As you start your new calendar at the beginning of the year. Try to remember it as an important tool for your scrapbooks. I always have the best intention of carrying a notebook in my purse to journal things as they come to mind, or cute things my kids say. Notice I said the best intentions. Someone always takes out the notebook, I forget that I have it, or I am just to busy to write things down at the time! I have found that my calendar is a great place to add a little memory jogger at the end of the day! This I can remember to do and it only takes a moment.