How to Create a Two-Page Month Calendar
By Melissa Worcester
A two-page month calendar is an excellent compromise between a monthly calendar, where each page contains one month, and a weekly planner, where each page contains a week. Spreading a month out over two pages gives more space to write in each date's square, but still allows you to see the entire month at a glance. It's hard to find planners in this format, but you can easily make one yourself.
Download printable calendar templates that display a monthly calendar across two pages (see Resources). Files from Donna Young are in PDF format, and files from Vertex42 are in XLS (spreadsheet) format.
Open and view the files you downloaded, in order to become familiar with them. The template from Vertex42 contains macros that automatically update the calendar with the correct dates. Both formats are two-page files.
Make a mockup of the pages that will print on your calendar. The easiest way to do this is to cut a paper into small rectangles, about the size of business cards. Stack them up and staple them on the left-hand vertical edge to make a small book. Write the month on each two-page spread like this: write "January" on the left-hand page of the first two-page spread, and "January" on the right-hand page opposite it. You will quickly observe two things: (1) each individual month is not printed back-to-back on the same sheet of paper and (2) the very first page is a right-hand page which doesn't have a designated month.
Create a page for the blank first and last pages, if desired. You could make a title page for the first one and a page for notes or addresses for the last page.
Print the pages, using your mockup as a guide to make sure the sheets paginate correctly. Print the title page, then the left side of January on the back of that sheet. Then print the right side of January with the left side of February on the back of it. Continue printing until you are finished.
Stack up your printed pages and check to see that they have printed correctly, so that each two-page spread shows the two halves of an individual month.
Bind your calendar. You can do this by using a three-hole punch to punch holes on the pages and put them in a three-hole binder, or you can use a comb-binding or spiral-binding machine to bind them.
Tips
- If you don't have a binding machine, and don't want a three-ring binder for your calendar, consider taking your printed pages to an office supply store or another establishment that provides photocopying and document services. They will most likely be able to bind your calendar for you for a small fee.
Writer Bio
Melissa Worcester is a mom, freelance writer and graphic designer. She has been writing professionally for over 18 years and earning a part-time income writing for various websites since 2007. She writes about technology issues, business and marketing, home improvement, education and family topics and assists in her husband's home remodeling business. Worcester has a Bachelor of Arts in communications and psychology from Syracuse University.