Expired calendars can be new again

You can live in the past, you know. Unfortunately, this is going to be a tough year to pull it off.

I just finished spending 2015 with a 1998 calendar on my wall. The days and dates lined up perfectly. After all, with seven days a week and 365 days a year, there are only so many ways to lay out a calendar; it’s not like they come with an expiration date.

(A side benefit: It’s always interesting to see what was jotted down on the calendar a decade or so ago. It’s kind of a mini family journal.)

That got me wondering what previous year would be compatible with 2016, so I could recycle a calendar from the previous millennium. This year, however, is leap a year — and those 366-day calendars have a much slower rotation rate.

The most recent year that matches the 2016 calendar was 1988. We do tend to hold on to things for a while at our house, but I’m pretty sure we don’t have a 28-year-old calendar in that stack on the counter.

Looking forward, I’ll be able to recycle my 2016 calendar in 2044, which frankly seems like a stretch.

If you don’t mind mixing and matching, you can use a 2010 calendar for the first two months of 2016. Then, after that pesky Feb. 29 is history, you can switch to a 2011 calendar on March 1.

Meanwhile, don’t be too quick to toss out any calendars still hanging on your wall. The 2015 calendar rotates on six-year and 11-year cycles. You’ll be able to use it again in 2026.