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Ink sketch of some calendars by the author. Nice and messy, just like the future tends to be.
This is the time of year when I start reviewing and preparing next year’s calendars. These calendars live on my wall, in a paper notebook, and on my Apple devices. They let me time travel to next year, making it feel like a place I’ve already been.
Will these calendars change in 2026? Stay the same? Let’s find out.
Wall calendars are a must at our place. As a multi-generational household we need a central place for everyone to see what’s happening when, device-free. It means copying over events from the digital calendar and regularly checking in to make sure they stay in sync, but for us the effort is well worth having everyone on the same page.
This year we used a continuous calendar — something I created at the end of 2024. It consists of enough sheets to cover the entire year taped together and folded concertina-style, with 10 weeks or so showing at a time. You can release the whole lot at any time to plan the entire year.
First iteration of the continuous calendar in 2020 on the left, 2025 version on the right
Past sheets on this style of calendar can be removed or folded out of sight as the year progresses. I’m a folder rather than a remover, because I like to open the whole thing out at the end of the year and see where we’ve been and what we’ve done in one epic list!
It’s been helpful to see one month flow right on into another, but I’ve realised I like to clearly see where one month ends and another begins. In the next few weeks I’ll add light colours to the background of each new month to make them look more distinct.
Next year I’ll use my own A5 paper planner. The Japanese-inspired template I’m working on needs some refining to get the levels of grey looking right, but it’s nearly there! The plan is to print a set of months (with a future log at the back), and four sets of quarters (weekly spreads).
A5 undated paper planner layouts
They’ll be printed double sided on A4 fountain pen friendly paper, then folded and stitched down the middle with a 5mm stitch on my trusty Bernina sewing machine. Sewing six sheets of paper together will work just fine. Having multiple booklets for a year will let me carry as few or as many quarter booklets as I want, and means I can change layouts part way through the year if I want to (and I probably will, but we’ll see).
The month and week booklets will sit nicely in my Paper Saver notebook. They would also work well in a Midori Traveller, or any notebook cover with vertical strings for holding notebook refills.
In addition to the Apple Calendar, I’ll continue to use the (free) Fantastical calendar widget on my iPhone as I prefer its layout to every other app I’ve come across. Seeing the weather forecast for the next 3 days is a nice extra.
My current calendars (within Apple Calendar) are working well. Each is a different colour.
All calendars other than the first one are shared with my husband. The Household Routines calendar is shared with all the device-owning people. My husband adds his appointments to our wall calendar, and I transfer them to the Home calendar. He doesn’t add to the digital calendar, but he does refer to it via a large widget on his iPhone home screen.
I love calendars and planners for the way they let me leap ahead into the uncertain future, and try it on for size. I can’t control All The Stuff, but I can make sure I know what I need to do to prepare the stuff I can control, in good time.
Time! Calendars really are time machines.
Let me leave you with a thought I had last week.
The choices I make today might not change what happens tomorrow, but they can make me into someone better able to cope with it.
Someone more likely to see the bigger picture, to be more compassionate, more patient with shortcomings, and to have the courage to live what I know to be true even (especially) when those around me have opposing views.
I can’t control The future, but I can shape My future.
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