What do you do with your old paper planner pages?

[chris6h]

I have pages going back to 1999 each in its own binder for every year. I keep thinking I might want to review it to see how far I have come in life, but basically it is just collecting DUST as I haven't even cracked it. What do you do with it? How long will you typically keep the pages?

I'm curious what you do and trying to free up some needed closet space.

Thanks

 

[kewms]

If you need to keep pages for tax or other audit-related reasons, ask an expert how long. Otherwise, toss them as soon as you're convinced you won't need them anymore.

I keep non-tax stuff for a year: I keep a rotating 12-month file and toss everything when the month comes around the following year.

Katherine

 

[Tspall]

Most of my planner pages (when I was using a planner) was for personal appointments or for work, but nothing tax or financially related. I saved them for about a month before getting rid of them. Even at a month, I rarely had to go back and refer to them. It definitely depends on what you keep in your planner though. You can do a search for tax or record retention to see how long you need to keep certain records. I hope that helps!

 

[mthar1]

I keep them. Just because I haven't been looking back in them during the last ten years, doesn't mean I won't later on. My grandpa has been keeping all his planners since the 1940's and at times refers back to them when reflecting on his life and historical events.
And unless it takes up space that you need better for something else, why not?

So I guess my advice is not to have too short a time frame when thinking about it. But if you need the closet space better for something else, then sure toss it away. It's impossible to keep everything anyway.

Edit: Now how did this thread show up in a search for this weeks threads? Didn't notice it was that old until too late. Sorry!

 

[Oogiem]

I keep them

What do you do with it? How long will you typically keep the pages?

I still have all my paper planner pages from 1989-1995. In addition to the paper I have them scanned as PDF's. When I switched to an electronic planner in 1996 I still printed out paper copies of the data and also have a scanned PDF of the data as well.

I frequently find myself pulling them out to reference something or to check on something. Usually only for stuff within the last 10 years but I dig into the archives often enough that I know I'd miss them if I got rid of them. I do track how often I get into the older stuff and it generally runs to about 6-10 times a year that I go back into the really old files. I wish I had my old ones from 1981 (when I started keeping a planner) until 1989 but I stupidly got rid of those during a move.

I am considering doing new scans of the paper stuff (better resolution, color and searchable) and getting rid of the individual daily pages but keeping the overall monthly calendar. Haven't made a final decision yet though.