How can I reuse or recycle … old calendars and diaries?
So, another year comes to an end this weekend and that’ll mean that a whole load of 2006 diaries and calendars will the heading to the rubbish heap.
If you have calendars with pretty pictures on, I guess you can cut out the picture to keep for future use/enjoyment, but what about other calendars now that you no longer care about the dentist appointment you had last August or your reminder to buy milk in May?
And what about all those used desk diaries and pocket diaries?
And on a bigger scale, what about those year planners hung on the wall of every office?
(Photo by ask)
If you cut up the squares you can rearrange them into a new calender.
Or you could use them again, just disregauring the days of the week and using it based on the day number.
You could give it to a kid to play school with.
You could cut it up into strips and use it for filling gift bags.
Day of the week land on the same dates (#s) they did six years ago. This repeats every six years. For example, you can use a 2001 calendar in lieu of a 2007 calendar, a 2002 calendar for 2008, etc. Try it, it works out if you’re willing to save them.
Thanks
I use old, barely used diaries as scrap paper. Just tear out the pages and clip them together at the top with a bull dog clip or staple them into smaller piles.
I buy current year diaries new when they’re vastly redcued in the spring to use as note books- you can usually get them for 25p or something for a hard back A5 notebook which I think is pretty good value.
You can take them and use them as some sort of decoration… for instance, using Mod Podge (a type of craft glue) and the pages to jazz up the inside of dresser drawers, to cover shoe boxes so they’re more visually exciting when used for storage (same with gift boxes), or paste them to a piece of poster board and laminate for a unique desk pad. Carry this idea to create unique frames, memo boards, etc.
They *are* paper. They can be put into the regular paper recycle bin to be made into recycled paper.
Also, you can make your own paper out of them by cutting fine (food processor?) and soaking them in water. Agitate the water some until it all looks like mush. Drain the water and roll it out very thin. Let it dry. voila! You have paper.
Finally, you can use any kind of scrap paper to make origami from. I have old wallpaper samplers I use for origami boxes. Very pretty!
I cut out calendar pictures and laminate for use as wipeable “to do” boards or message boards- functional and pretty at the same time. Or transform into unusual envelopes by tracing the pattern from an old envelope. A large out-of-date diary became a hidden book safe
I donate attractive calendars, with pictures of animals or scenery, to lower-income schools, children’s homes, day care centres, or libraries. The walls are often dreary and undecorated. My niece likes to make her own collages from [pictures cut out of calendars too. I have also laminated nice pictures to use as place mats or to stick on the wall in the bathroom (where the lamination makes them waterproof).
i cut those little pictures out (often the backs of wall calendars contain all 12 pictures on a small scale) and use them to make note cards. daily planners also are loaded small pictures, or i cut them down, for the same purpose. i also use the larger calendar pictures on the covers of the “hobo notebooks” i describe under “how do i reuse printer paper.”
make new paper out of them. Same technique as for newspaper.
Why not buy recycled calendars to start with, rose calendars have for 2009 produced a range of promotional calendars for business use, using recyled paper, backcard and cartons with a useful how to recylce your calendar shown on the reverse of every calendar.
Write grocery lists on them.
would like to buy 06 07 08 unused diaries
Hi i work for a large distribution company currently in the process of clearing are old stock of diaries.if interested please call craig on07988786832. thanks
two ideas for calenders:
1. teach children how to make their own jigsaws. Cut out a nice picture from the calender and glue it all over to a piece of cardboard. Leave until completely dry. Then get the children to cut it up into as many pieces as they want their jigsaw to be. Younger children might need encouraging to cut less pieces and to use wiggly lines for cutting rather than straight.
2. make your own envelopes using a free online template http://desktoppub.about.com/od/envelopes/tp/Blank_Craft_Envelope_Templates.htm For letter envelopes use a scrap of white paper to make a label so you can write an address on. In the past I have made A4 envelopes to send job apps in to make it stand out among other entries (and yes I did get an interview!). We used lots of magazine pages and calenders to make envelopes to hold our wedding favours (which were packets of veg seeds) – you can see the finished result on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22871371@N07/2868176949/in/photostream/
I told my gramdnother how you helped. She said, “bake them a cake!”
I recycle those brown (look like grocery bag paper) papers from newspaper inserts; spray glue on the back side of calendar pages.
Use an envelope template that fits the calendar page, trace around, cut
and fold. Now you have an envelope that you can write on in the inside. After writing your message, just fold the envelope and put a
seal of some sort to hold it closed, address and send in the mail. Make
great stationary.
Only calendars which come immediately after a leap year repeats after 6 years. 2007 had the same calendar as 2001, but 2008 and 2002 do not since 2008 is a leap year. Any non leap year calendar which did not come straight after a leap year will repeat in 11 years, not 6 years, so you would have to wait until 2013 before you can reuse your 2002 calendar. So 2002 and 2003 don’t repeat in 2008 and 2009, instead they repeat in 2013 and 2014.
2013, however, did come straight after a leap year, so it can be used again in 2019, but 2014’s calendar can NOT be used in 2020 (as it is a leap year).
I want to know why you are specifying that 2002 does not repeat in 2008!!!!! It does not repeat in 2007 or 2009 or 2005 it repeats in 2013!!!! Why do you specify 2008??????
Thank you Robert! I happen to specifically have a lovely 2014 calendar/organizer to the tune of $25/$30, which my teen Daughter HAD to have, but ironically never managed to actually use. When she threw it out I retrieved it and did a search on possibilities for salvaging, and came upon the tip about coinciding days/dates repeating every six years. Thus I was poised to park it & devise a realistic way of reminding myself to reteieve it for 2020. Then I came upon your feedback where you specifically mention 2014 not repeating for 11 years (2026). I thank you sincerely for sparing me the wasted effort & subsequent disappointment.