In my introduction post to this series, How to Live a More Old-Fashioned Life, I explained the heart of the matter. We need to find more balance in our lives. Doing so means pulling back from the internet a bit and learning to live a more old-fashioned life. So to continue on from there, in this post I am sharing specific ideas for how to live a more old-fashioned life in the categories of planning & communication.
Remember, the goal of this series is not for you to use every idea. I am firm believer that we cannot try to recreate the past. But instead, we can use the wisdom of the past in conjunction with today’s technology to create meaningful lives we are truly happy in. Depending on how much you want to pull back from the internet, you can pick and choose the ideas that work best for you and your family. Some of these ideas are a lot more in depth and require some serious changes. Other ideas are simple and can be easily integrated into your life.
I am on my own journey towards living a more old-fashioned life, but remember I’m not fully there yet either. I can’t do all of these ideas, even though I wish I could sometimes. But some I do and others, I am working towards. Figuring out what’s best for you and your family is most important.
Old-fashioned planning & communication ideas
Use a written planner
I have always used a written planner. I tried to do both written and on the “calendar” app before and terribly failed. The technology just wasn’t right for me. I need to write in the margins and check things off with a real pen. Maybe I’m an “old fuddy duddy” but I was also kind of weirded out with my phone knowing all my future plans.
I also love having a wall calendar; one that I can just look over at and know what my week looks like.
I know this is an area of my life I will always keep old-fashioned.
If you are looking for a written planner, here are my 2 favorites. I’m not affiliated with either one, they are just my own personal recommendations.
Old-fashioned planner recommendations:
Blessed is She Mini Planner
This planner had been my go to for years. It is spiral bound and has a hard cover which makes it pretty sturdy. Tabs for each month, and a monthly and weekly spread that are sectioned right next to each other for each month. The days have check boxes instead of hours which helped me greatly to get the priorities done for each day. It has slots on the front and back cover to hold important documents.
For Catholics, it has all of the holy days and starts of novenas, along with prayers in the second tabbed section of the planner, after a yearly tab. It also has monthly and weekly scripture or religious quotes to nurture faith. In the back, is a tabbed section just for notes.
I LOVE this planner and highly recommend it for people who like to be organized but are a bit more minimal on planning. The downside of this planner is that there isn’t a ton of free space to brainstorm or flesh out ideas in, if that’s important to you. The only reason I am not using this one for this season of life, is that I needed a more in-depth planner. But I will probably go back to this one at some point in the future. To note, the price point is high on this one, but well worth the cost.
Old-Fashioned on Purpose Planner
I used this planner for the first time this year, and fell in love with it. For this season of life, it has been hugely helpful. So I will be writing this based off this years planner, but next year’s planner has many upgrades. This planner is a large (regular sized sheet of printer paper) spiral bound, soft cover, and has the monthly spreads in the front section, and the weekly spread with hourly days in the middle section.
Then, the back third has a few different sections. “Make It”; has a lot of handy spots to write your pantry organization, and canning preservation logs, along with many other parts. “Grow It”; has a bunch of gardening logs and tips to organize your garden plans, along with space to draw out your garden plan and more. “Record It”; holds budgeting records, animal records, books to read list, and more. The only downside is that it doesn’t have tabs to easily go to each section, but I think that is one thing that has been upgraded for 2022 along with a sturdier cover.
I like that this planner is focused on the whole homestead and has tips and reminders along the way to help you stay on top of things. You can tell Jill, the maker of the planner, is a real homesteader and knows the nitty gritty of homestead life. I would recommend this planner to people who want an all in one place for everything homestead related and would find an hourly spread helpful. The price point on this one is very reasonable, too.
Write notes and reminders on paper
Writing on paper instead of the “notes” app is honestly so freeing to me. Sure, I may lose it. I may not have access to it 24/7 on every connected device. But there is something to writing your grocery list down on the back of an old envelope and taking it with you to the store. For me, it just feels right.
But one thing I’ve found to be really cool is this notebook called Rocketbook (again, not an affiliate, just a personal recommendation). I got this as a Christmas present one year, and have liked it ever since. So, it’s kind of a hybrid between the “notes” app on your phone and writing in a regular physical notebook. You write in this notebook with a particular pen and you can then upload the pages onto your computer as a PDF file into different folders you create. The best part about this though, is that once the notebook is used up, you can erase all the writing and it becomes a fresh notebook that you can use again. So it’s re-usable and saves paper.
Honestly, I don’t use it to upload the pages to the computer, but I do really like that it is re-useable and that it comes in different sizes. That, in itself, is such a great example of using old-fashioned ways of life and integrating technology in a positive way.
Write old-fashioned handwritten letters
I want so much to get better at this one! Writing letters has become a lost art. But it is so much nicer to get a letter in your mailbox than a bill or an advertisement.
Another way to do this is to write handwritten notes or love letters to your spouse. If your spouse gets up early for work, prep the coffee for them for the morning and put a little note in front of it, showing how much you care for them. Another idea is to keep a notebook that you and your spouse write back and forth to each other in. This way, the notes are complied in one place.
I remember my grandparents saying they did this at a point in life when my grandfather was working two jobs. They hardly got to see each other, so they wrote notes and love letters to each other.
Keep a physical address book
Keep an address book either instead of or in addition to the “contacts” app on your smartphone. This can be fun because there are all sorts of cute address books out there. But honestly, I use a $1 one I bought at the dollar store and it works just fine. I like using this for when I am writing out thank you cards or holiday cards, so that I don’t have to have my phone nearby and get distracted by it.
Send out Christmas cards written by hand
I really miss this one. I remember as a kid, getting tons of Christmas cards at the holidays and hanging them around the house as decorations. Unfortunately as the years have past, the number of cards I get has shrunk and continues to dwindle. I get it. Some years I haven’t sent cards, particularly in years where I have moved around Christmas-time, or my busy first Christmas as a mom. But I do try to do this one most years.
When I first moved out on my own, I dabbled with using wax to seal and monogram my envelops and used calligraphy pens as well. You don’t have to go that far, but It was really fun to do. It made the whole experience of writing the Christmas cards so special.
Since there is enough time to plan for this year’s Christmas, maybe give this one a try.
Write old-fashioned, hand-written thank you cards
Another lost art. Granted, I am not perfect with this, although I wish I was. Gratitude is super important to me. I used to write thank you cards out all the time, even for things people wouldn’t expect a thank you card for. But young motherhood has definitely impacted how often I do this, I still make an effort though. But I always have for a specific occasion, like wedding or baby shower gifts.
For parties, send out real invitations instead of just on facebook
For a special occasion, send out real, hand written invitations to guests homes. This is another one of those fun ones to get in your mailbox. Nowadays, doing both would be okay.
Yep, I still try to do this one. I only have very small family birthday parties, so I don’t do it for that. But if I did have large birthday parties, for instance for a milestone birthday, I would do this. And especially for special events, like a baby shower, this was pretty important to me.
Then you, and your guests, get to have a small keepsake from the occasion.
RSVP to an invitation in a reasonable time-frame
RSVP to your invitations by the date given. We’re not perfect and may forget here and there but try to do this, even if it’s to an invitation on facebook, as a curtesy.
Keep small mementos and family heirlooms to pass down
With the rate technology is changing, I don’t know how this will look for our children.
Where will our thousands of photos go? Will our children really keep that, will they even be able to access it in the future? Will they have your password to see them?
What I mean; are those photos and videos in “the cloud” just going to fade away because new technology comes around and our children can no longer access it? Like those VHS camera tapes of home movies that are sitting in a box in the attic.
This is why this idea is important. Your children will still be able to see and use physical photos that you have printed out. Making scrap books, photo albums and memory books with your notes in them is crucial. But it doesn’t have to be an overwhelming amount of boxes and boxes of stuff.
I bought Embrace: A Pregnancy Journal & a two book set, called Grow: Journals for Baby & Child to chronicle my son’s life from pregnancy to age 6 (not an affiliate, just a personal recommendation). These books are small, minimal and easy to use. You can paste photos in it, like a scrap book and also write important milestones and things to remember.
My plan is to use a small carry-on sized vintage suitcase (his great-grandmother’s actually) to save the most important memories for my son to have as an adult. This way he won’t be saddled with tons of stuff in the future. He will have a small curated collection of the best, most meaningful mementos, family photos & memory books from over the course of his childhood. Sure, there will still be lots of stuff stuck in “the cloud” but the most important photos will always be ready to hold.
Get an old-fashioned land line home phone
One thing to consider here is how old-fashioned do you want to get?
You can go all in and get a real land-line through the phone company. Also, get corded phone that does not have caller ID and answer the phone like we used to, not knowing who was calling you.
Or you can go part-way & save some money by getting the phone line through your internet service provider. In this case, it would go though your modem/router. You could also have a cordless home phone that has caller ID and an answering machine. One disadvantage to this option though, is if your power goes out, so does your phone line. Unless you have a backup battery for your modem/router, and a backup corded phone.
Or, you can live without any phone all together… but I’m not ready to go that far, lol.
I have a home phone line through my internet provider, have a backup battery for the modem/router, typically use the cordless phone with caller ID but also have a corded phone that doesn’t require power to use. It has a lovely, old-fashioned ring, too.
Do what is best for you and your family.
Dial phone #’s from memory, even when using your smart phone
Dial the phone numbers you most commonly use, like for your spouse or parents, even when using your cell phone.
I still remember the phone numbers of my childhood best friends. It’s like they are permanently imprinted on my mind because I typed them in over and over again. Nowadays, if our cell phone is dead and we don’t have it written in an address book, we wouldn’t know the number to the most important people in our lives. By typing them in over and over, we will commit the numbers to memory, just in case.
Wear an old-fashioned watch instead of a smart watch
Using an old-fashioned watch will help limit distractions and will lessen the amount of times you pick up your phone. A lot of times, we pick up our phone to check the time. Then, when we pick it up we end up seeing a notification and then before you know it you’re scrolling through social media. So the less often we pick up the smart phone, the better.
And I say, the old-fashioned watch because even the smart watch is still connected to the internet and can cause distraction. Sure, you can disable that, and that’s a good start. But in the long run, it’s easier to just get an old-fashioned watch to tell the time.
Wrapping Up
I hope this list of old-fashioned planing & communication ideas has been helpful.
Keep an eye out for my next post in this series, where I’ll be covering ideas on another aspect of life to make our lives more old-fashioned.
Check out the rest of my A More Old-Fashioned Life Series
How to Live a More Old-Fashioned Life
Holiday Edition: A More Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving
Holiday Edition: A More Old-Fashioned Christmas
Savannah
These are great tips! I have the Old Fashioned on Purpose Planner as well and I have really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to the new one!
Mountain Mama
Thank you so much, Savannah! I agree, I am looking forward to the new one as well, already got my pre-order in 🙂