When I am old

 

so the poem goes, I shall wear purple, and red hats and stuff, and maybe I will, however, to the point...

Back in December, I saw a journalling idea on Design*Sponge, that I wish I'd begun many years ago, but since late is better than never, I've begun it now.

Life seems to be getting faster and busier, and often there is only time to jot down a few words a day, maybe just a trivial household event, or something we thought about, something someone said or did, or a comment on listening to the news.(My mum used to write in the margins of her newspaper, or magazine, often not many words, just a remark on an article, and it always made me smile, her replies to journalists.)

So, the basic idea (and happily it doesn't get complicated hereafter) is to write a few words each day, year after year, on the same daily index cards/lined paper/whatever kind of paper you like, divided by monthly picture postcards/photos/anything stiffish.You move that day to the back of the stack and the next day you do the same. Each day's date is stamped or written on the lined paper/index card, you just add the year.

I've made a mock index card, as if I had been doing this for 9 years, just to give you the idea. (The entries are all true, I have all our old family diaries in a box in the attic and I dug them out to look up the day - golly did I lose a few hours that afternoon!)

For all I know, there are hundreds of people out there already doing this, but it's new to me, and I love that eventually each day, as I make an entry, I will look back on the last however many years on that one card, and smile/grimace/ponder/raise my eyebrows at what I wrote that day.

Imagine reading, in 30 years time, all those fascinating snippets! (I realise my own snippets are of no interest to anyone but myself, but would you indulge me, just for today?)

As the index cards proved impossible to purchase locally, and ridiculously expensive to buy online, I decided to bust my stash. I sorted through all my old 12 x 12 papers, picking out the sheets I wasn't too fond of, and which were of a decent weight, and, most importantly, which had a white reverse. I trimmed them into 5" by 3" rectangles, dated them (all 366 days worth) and stacked them in a pretty box, interleaved with postcards.

Write a daily entry:

Move it to the back, and you're ready for tomorrow, repeat on and on forever:

Of course you can always change the postcards when you get bored with them; these are my favourite kind, together with the saucy seaside ones :)

I'm sure I can keep this up, it's only a few words each day, wish me luck!

Eleanor

x

Oh, the fabric is Persian Vase by Kaffe Fassett, from Rainbow Silks, watch this space, it will re-appear in another guise in the summer.

 

Comments

[Sarah]

I LOVE this idea!!!!!

I'm going to start this this weekend!

[Nicky]

I do too! Absolutely fab! I do wish you luck on keeping it up forever and ever, don't forget! ;-)

[Debbie Roberts]

I love this, especially love the "Danny s for tea - dont care to repeat.

Much more manageable than a diary, and I am tempted to start my own. x

[Carolyn Phillips]

That's a wonderful idea. I'd never do anything everyday, but love the idea of it continuing and eventually thye daily look back at previous years.

[MichelleW]

What a brilliant idea! I used to keep a 5 year diary and would often lose time reading through the entries I'd made on the same day of the previous years - I've fallen out of the habit.... a line a day is do-able and each card will contain way more than 5 years worth of entries - such fun! Thank you for sharing this idea.

[Bobs]

Thank you for this idea, Ellie! I have now made my cards and separators (which I will decorate over time) and written my first entry!
I love this! :-)
xxx

[Celeste]

Love this idea.
I've never been able to keep up with a diary but this is doable.
Thanks for the suggestion.

[Scrapdolly]

This is utterly brilliant. i document my day every day on my blog but I LOVE this idea and plan on starting this too

[Suzanne]

How fabulous! Love the idea of being able to see at a glance each day over the years.

[Catriona]

I am getting ready to start on Tuesday-am currently following your example and trying to use some stash.I have lots of postcards to use as separators-I love collecting postcards.Nearly fainted when I saw the price of index cards in WH Smiths today!!