Did you know that there are various types of monthly calendars? If no, then you should take time to learn and understand the various types of monthly calendars available across the world. A monthly calendar refers to the systematic organization of days and weeks for various purposes. Each day has a designated date that allows the user to identify it.
A month-based calendar is used by the commercial sector and for religious, administrative, as well as social reasons. Different countries, businesses, and groups use varying month-based calendars. Each month of the calendar has either 31, 30, or 28/29 days depending on whether it is a common or leap year.
Why you should consider using a Monthly Calendar
• Convenience
A monthly calendar is useful because it allows the users to keep track of the dates for specific purposes. When you have a month-based calendar in your home, business, or other institution, you will make it easy to have access to all information about specific days and weeks of the month.
• Planning
Calendars based on months are a good way for one to plan for the future events as well as keep track of all the changes. For instance, business individuals rely on calendars based on months to plan for production, transportation, marketing, and distribution of products. The calendars are also used to plan for social, business, or religious functions such as meetings. Christians, for instance, use the monthly calendars of March and April to plan for the Good Friday and Easter Monday holidays.
• Saves on time
The calendars improve your ability to keep time because the dates are right in front of you. You can mark a certain important date on your calendar and each time you see it, you will remember its importance. This helps to keep managers and other individuals on their toes leading to little or no time wastage. On the other hand, when a month-based calendar is used to schedule production timelines, the personnel are likely to make deliveries on time since they are able to monitor their progress towards meeting the set deadline.
Factors to consider when choosing Calendars Based on Months
• Purpose
There are various types of month calendars used around the world with each type created to serve specific purposes. For instance, the calendars for religious, social, administrative, and business purposes differ. A business month-based calendar may have 4 or 5 weeks depending on the planning method used. The days for each month may also vary for some reasons.
• Type of month and year
Months are defined differently depending on the astronomy as well as the country. For instance, the United States uses a completely different calendar from that of Australia. Also, one will have to choose a February calendar with 28 days in a common year while in a leap year, the calendar will have 29 days.
• Where you are
As mentioned earlier, different countries, religions, and businesses use varying types of month-based calendars based on specific attributes. There are the Gregorian, Roman, Julian, Hebrew, Islamic, Arabic, Hindu, Baha’i, Persian, Reformed Bengali, Nanakshahi, Khmer, Thai, Tongan, Kollam Era, Sinhala, Germanic, Old Swedish, Old English, Old Hungarian, and many other types of calendars with varying days and months. This means that depending on the place you are in, you will need to consider the type of calendar you want.
Types and templates of Monthly Calendars available
There are various types of calendars available online with each used for varying purposes. Because of the variation in the types of month-based calendars, there are programs and software online that can allow you to create the monthly calendar template you desire based on the above factors. You can visit a website like www.timeanddate.com to be able to make calendars based on months for yourself. Below are some of the most common calendars based on months used across the universe.
1. Retail Calendar
A retail calendar is based on the description of weeks and days. Monthly retail calendars are specifically used by retail businesses for the purpose of productivity planning and organization. The users of the retail calendar use it to compare their weekly and monthly sales for every quarter. There are usually two types of retail calendars: 4-4-5 and the 4-5-4 calendar.
• The 4-4-5 retail calendar
In this case, the monthly retail calendars for the quarters created will vary with the first month having 4 weeks as well as the second month while the third month will indicate 5 weeks. With this calendar, the first month is February while January is the last as indicated on the yearly calendar. The three calendars are used to create a quarterly calendar for retail purposes.
• The 4-5-4 retail calendar
In this calendar, the first yearly month is February like the previous calendar. However, the first and third monthly calendars will have 4 weeks while the second monthly calendar has 5 weeks. These three month calendars with different number of weeks are used to make one quarter of a year.
2. Monday to Sunday, Two-ring design
This month calendar has Monday indicated as the first day of the week while Sunday is the last day of the week. It is this kind of calendar that is used in most schools since Monday is presumed to be the first day of the week.
3. Sunday to Saturday Calendar Design
Contrary to the calendar design above, this has Sunday as the first day of every week and Saturday as the last day of the week. It is mostly used by different religious groups.
4. Monthly blank calendar
Business individuals and other groups that rely on a certain set schedule use monthly blank calendars to keep track of dates. Eventually, they mark the dates of appointments and other specific dates. The idea is to print a clean month-based calendar with no reserved days or weeks. The blank calendar indicates the dates of each day of the specified month and provides a blank section for your appointments and holidays.
The appointments section has three slots: date, time, and with whom. This way, you will be able to keep track of all your expected meetings and will avoid disappointing the other party or parties. The holiday section is also left blank for you to write down all the upcoming holidays. Managers use this to plan for work performance because most organizations do not have employees working on holidays.
5. Monthly-US-holidays calendar
This calendar has all the dates but is sure to indicate the dates for specific holidays as per the US beliefs and practices. The dates of these holidays are marked in different colors or font depending on the maker of the calendar. As such, the holidays celebrated within a month are noted in each calendar. For instance, the January Calendar indicates the 1st as the New Year’s Day according to the monthly-US- holidays calendar while the December calendar indicates the 25th as Christmas Day.
Other states like Australia rely on a different yearly calendar implying that the calendars based on months will also be different. However, the upcoming holidays for each month are included in the month-based calendars for the public. You can also create your own monthly holiday calendar to help you plan ahead and keep track of your cultural and religious practices.
