Last year, I took a lovely trip with my sister to one of her favorite places on earth. Because it's a beach, it's automatically one of my favorite places, too, even though I'd never been there before.
One day, we were on a small ferry to an island where one of the ferry employees offered to take our picture. We said, "Sure!" as we laughed a little about our very, very windblown hair.
She took the picture and then told us a very short story that has become one of my favorite stories about pictures.
The Story: This Isn't About You
She told us that her daughter recently wanted to take a photo of her, but she declined because she didn't think she look very good that day.
Her daughter said, “This isn’t about you. It’s about when you’re dead so that I have pictures of you to look at."
We laughed, mostly at the bluntness of the statement, but I really appreciated the reason behind the argument.
Eventually, photos and videos and maybe even some audio recordings will be all we have left of someone special.
When we had this photo taken on the ferry, neither of us were trying to be a part of a beauty contest or have something airbrushed to make us look ten years younger. (Why do we do that?! Age is something to be proud of because we've earned it!)
We were just enjoying time together as sisters in a beautiful place where we had a completely delightful time. Together. And, hello, there were wild horses on that island behind us!!
Just Do It
Just do it. Be in the pictures. Don't worry about if your hair is everywhere or you have wrinkles or gray hair ("sparkles") or if your eyelids are heavier than they used to be. Guess what. This is what I looked like at 52. And this is something great that I did when I was 52. So I should have some pictures of it!
It's about the moment, not about some ridiculous ideal that nobody can really live up to.
I know it can be hard to get over ourselves in this world so focused on appearances, but to the people you matter the most to, they don't see anything but YOU. The person they love.
The Two-Part Challenge
This is hard for most of us, I know. This two-part challenge is for me too (although I've nailed part 2!)
PART 1: Look beyond appearances to the MOMENT and what's MEANINGFUL in a photo! Look at the memories. Begin to see something you'll cherish 5 or 25 years from now. See something that those who love you will cherish even beyond that.
Then, get started preserving and sharing them in pages. It doesn't have to be hard or complicated. There are two different options at that link to fit your time and interest, and both of them are printed in highest quality bindings, papers, and inks to last generations.
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Listen. I'm not special. Yes, I love preserving my memories in pages, so I'm rarely more than a month or two "behind." But all it takes is finding something you love and a plan you can stick to.
Because after that, it's just fun. It's not hard. Not even a little.
We are going to focus today on digital memory-keeping--creating digitally with a printed result (and a digital copy, too). The non-negotiables below still apply to traditional paper scrapbooking and to simply sliding your photos in photo albums purchased at a craft store or a big-box store, so make sure you can check all those boxes even if you're not interested in digital memory-keeping.
The Non-Negotiables
No matter the memory-keeping system you choose, there are some non-negotiables that you should not budge on:
quality:Look for acid-free, lignin-free pages printed with high-quality inks and best-in-the-industry bindings. Do not use any company that uses glue in their bindings because over time the glue will crack, causing pages to fall out. The best binding would be either stitching (a library binding) or a PUR binding which is a chemical bonding process, not glue.
a place to write:Photos without stories are the 21st century equivalent of an old shoebox in the attic--if you don't know who is in the photo and why it was taken, it actually loses its value!
guarantees:Don't accept anything less than a 100% satisfaction guaranteeand a privacy guarantee. These days, it's very easy to find online sites that will print your books, store your digital photos, etc., but it's shocking how many of them have fine print that allows them to shut down their site without notice, sell your information, and even sell your photos. Make sure you have a guarantee on all those things. I wrote about privacy guarantees and common fine print here, if you'd like to learn more. And, really, a 100% satisfaction guarantee for something you're paying for only makes sense. You want your book to be amazing.
These non-negotiables do eliminate a fair amount of options, it's true. And that's for good reason. You really and truly don't want something that is going to fall apart. You really and truly don't want your photos to be data-mined and sold. You want a photo-memory book you can give as a gift and can pass on to the next generation.
The Magic Solution: a hack
We will definitely get you to a solution here, but I first want to tell you the biggest secret in finding a memory-keeping system that works for you.
There's not a "latest and greatest" you should be looking for. There's not some magic solution.
There's just a hack.
And the hack is this: The right memory-keeping system, the best memory-keeping system, is your favorite one. It's the one you will do and love.
That's the honest truth. Make sure your chosen system meets the non-negotiables listed above, and if it does, you're in the right place.
If you're still looking for the right thing for you, we'll talk next about how to choose the right memory-keeping system FOR YOU. Something you'll do and love.
How to Choose the Right Memory-Keeping System for YOU
There are a few good questions to ask yourself in order to help you choose the right system FOR YOU. Is your goal to spend time or save time? Would a creative option or a pre-designed option be your choice?
NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too.
Two Recommendations
In 19+ years as a memory-keeping consultant, the best options I've seen for preserving photos and memories in printed pages that will last for years and years to come are:
OPTION A: Create & Print
I've seen so many people use this simple method with beautiful results.
And more than the "beautiful" part... They have RESULTS! For anyone stuck (not moving forward) with memory-keeping, this might be the most important thing of all. Something doable can make all the difference.
Create & Print templates are professionally-designed and free to use. Choose the size, number of pages up to 99 (the price of the book is for 21 pages, then you can add pages at a per-page price), and the cover type (hardbound or softbound). There's just one design for the cover, but you can choose each page of the book individually based on your needs (a page with 3 photos, a page with 4 photos plus text, etc.). And there are hundreds of templates available for you to choose from, in many themes from vacation to wedding to everyday memories.
Another big win with Create & Print is that it uses very intuitive software that really only takes about 4 minutes to learn. You can see exactly how easy it is to use Create & Print here (or at this playlist)
With Create & Print, you can even make a book right from your phone.
Some people love designing their own pages for full creativity and flexibility when making digital photo-memory books. That's Option B, but I always suggest that if you're stuck or behind on your memory-keeping, you can get books done rather quickly using Create & Print, and you may like getting last year's photos into a book with Create & Print and then move on to this year's using Artisan, an amazing and fun digital scrapbooking software program I'll tell you about next.
I've seen this in action, by the way. If time is of the essence or if you've been sitting on a photo-memory book goal for too long, Create & Print may just be your best friend.
I have a friend who waited on putting together her daughter's wedding book for about 4 years because her go-to memory-keeping company was going through some changes and had some problems. I suggested Create & Print and she put the entire book together--and ordered it for printing--in 4 days.
OPTION B: Artisan digital scrapbooking software
I have used Create & Print several times for projects I needed done quickly, which is fantastic, but I absolutely love Artisan for full creativity, flexibility, and freedom of design. Artisan is definitely my go-to. With Artisan, I use fonts from my own computer (and 1001 Free Fonts is my favorite tool for always adding new, fun fonts), and I love creating!
Artisan is a program you purchase and install on your computer (like you do with Word or any other computer program). There's a free 30-day trial, too. Then, you can purchase digital art to use with Artisan so, again, you're getting exactly what you want.
While some people like--or some circumstances necessitate--quick and easy photo-memory book completion, if you enjoy the creative process like I do (it's, quite honestly, needed Me Time), you may love Artisan as much as I do.
Because there's SO MUCH you can do with Artisan, and it does take a little time to learn the program--just like with any computer program--I have created a whole Artisan Quick Tips with Jennifer series of tutorial videos that show you one thing at a time, such as how to add a drop shadow, how to create a wrap-around cover, how to crop photos, etc. You can see them all at that link, and this video will show you how to make a basic page:
What Now?
Get books in your hands! Choose the system that works best for you, and just get started. Don't wait. All the benefits of memory-keeping that I listed above are waiting for you!
Remember, too, that books make great gifts--for yourself, for your family, for grandparents, for kids. Emailing pictures really isn't the same thing. Something you can hold in your hands is precious.
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It can feel daunting to even think about organizing your photos if it's been a long time, if you don't know where they are, or if they are scattered in multiple places. But organizing your photos really can be doable!
Following these 5 steps will get you there, and once your photos are well-organized you'll be able to keep up the system moving forward so it doesn't get so overwhelming again.
Plus, these steps have an extra benefit:
Your digital photos will be triple-backed-up and guaranteed safe for your lifetime so you can pass them on (without any monthly upkeep fees). There's no need to download various programs or use a whole bunch of resources. These steps are simple in addition to being secure!
NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too.
Step 1: Find out where all your photos are.
Your digital photos and memories may be on multiple devices, phones, computers, flash drives, or external hard drives. That just adds to the overwhelm and makes SEEING your pictures that much more complicated.
Let's fix that. We're going to get them all in one place. This makes organizing (and finding them again) SO easy! If you want to reduce your Photo Overwhelm, getting them into one place is a vital step.
First, gather all your photo "homes" together, either physically or just on a written list. Get your phone and your camera and your old computer and your new computer (for example) together, or just write down that this is where everything is. Do you have some stored with Google or Amazon or iCloud?
Step 2: Create folders and subfolders on your computer.
An organizational structure like this makes photos easier to find. I suggest organizing chronologically. Since most systems organize alphabetically, I suggest--for example--making a 2001 folder. Inside that folder, create subfolders, starting with 01 January 2001, then 02 February 2001, etc.
If you have a lot of photos, I recommend starting with just one year. In fact, it's often easiest to start with THIS year and just work backwards from there. Getting one thing (like one year) accomplished makes the rest of it faster and easier.
I personally divide even further when I have a lot of photos from a big event. For example, I might have a folder for a long road trip to California. After I've got a 2008 folder and an 04 April 2008 subfolder, I want to divide up even further to make the pictures are easier to find, based on events. Instead of trying to sort through 200 pictures from the California trip, if I know the one I'm looking for was from Sea World, it's nice to just have a Sea World folder.
I like listing them in order, too, such as 02 Monterey because we did that before we went to 06 Disneyland. Without adding the numbers, Disneyland would come before Monterey.
I have also made additional subfolders for events with a lot of photos by naming them Day 1 Monterey and San Francisco, Day 2 LA and Hollywood, etc. This is optional, of course, but it really does help me find and enjoy my photos.
In Step 4, you will also have the option of tagging photos and adding descriptions to them. Tags are searchable (so finding all the "Bob" or "beach" pictures will be a snap) using a more convenient and accessible resource than your computer. If you don't want to set up a whole tagging system, you can simply add descriptions to each photo like "Bob and Sue went to Windandsea Beach after dinner at La Valencia in La Jolla" because descriptions are searchable, too!
Step 3: Move your photos to your computer. (Digital Way #1)
Now it's time to fill your folders and subfolders. Bring all the photos together from all your digital photo "homes" into one year on your computer. (If you've got photos in the cloud like Dropbox or iCloud, that's ok--get them to your computer in this step anyway. We'll talk more about this in Step 4.)
If you have so many photos that you don't have enough storage space on your computer, you can use an external hard drive if you like. We will address the storage space issue with a fantastic solution in Step 5.
Experts say to store photos 3 ways: 2 digitally and 1 in print.
Once your photos are saved to your computer, you've got 1 digital way. It's safest for the 2nd digital way to be offsite (meaning, out of your house). If your house burns or floods and Digital Way #1 is damaged, you'll still have your photos.
We'll get to Digital Way #2 soon, but first comes a very important step in making your photos more accessible and manageable.
Step 4: Cull. Pick and Choose.
Now it's time to go through your photos. Immediatelyget rid of extra photossuch as blurry photos, duplicates, etc. They're just in your way. And they may be contributing to that feeling over overwhelm.
Next, sort through photos and choose must-have favorites. You can certainly skip this part, but I recommend slimming down your photos for two reasons. 1- You don't want more photos than you can look at. Keeping your photos at a manageable number can help us see and enjoy them more often. 2- We'll be buying permanent digital photo (and video) storage in Step 5, and since it's a per-GB price, you'll probably only want to pay for what really matters.
We take a lot of photos. In the 19th century, it was best to keep every photo you had. In the 21st century, it's best to pick and choose. Not all photos are of equal value.
If the amount of photos you have is overwhelming, it's time to look at them with a critical eye. How many of the 50 pictures you took at the zoo are must-haves? How many are special? How many will be cherished 25 years from now? Keep the must-haves. You don't have to keep the rest.
If deleting photos feels hard, consider setting up a folder on your computer called "to be deleted." It's sort of a middle-ground without being so final. Once all five of these Organize Your Photos steps are completed, go back and look through the "to be deleted" folder and double-check to make sure you indeed can part with them. When you're ready, delete the folder.
Step 5: Make Your Photos Last Forever: the Second Digital Way
Now you have access to your photos! They're all in one digital place (your computer, or a hard drive if necessary). They are organized, culled, and accessible, at least from your computer. So let's step it up a notch and make your photos last forever with Digital Way #2 (which also includes a phone app so you can access your photos when your computer isn't around and when you don't have a lot of storage space on your phone).
It's very common for people to think that Google or Dropbox or SmugMug or Shutterfly or Amazon Photos (etc.) are a safe second digital way. However, there is a lot more to them than meets the eye.
Yes, there's a lot there about how your photos aren't private when stored there, but phrases like "change, suspend, or discontinue the services" and "terminate your access to our sites... with or without cause, and with or without prior notice" mean that my photos aren't secure in these places. They might not be available to me next year or in 10 years. It's not what I want for my memories.
And that's just what you're going to do in this final step of organizing your photos. For Digital Way #2 of preserving your photos and memories, you'll be able to:
That's what I want for my photos and memories, so I use and recommend a company called Forever.
Step 5 is your final step where you'll move your well-organized, easy to find, streamlined photos to offsite permanent cloud storage you can trust. Here are the 3 parts to completing Step 5:
Open your Forever account. It's free and comes with a lot of really wonderful memory-keeping resources in addition to Forever Storage. Click here to open your free Forever account in about a minute. Plus, you'll get a $20 coupon for opening your account! (I suggest using it for #3 below or for the Optional Step 6 you'll see shortly.)
Your Forever account includes 2 GB of free Forever Storage. Depending on the file size of your photos, that's about enough for 250-500 photos. Upload your newly-organized photos from your computer or external hard drive by first creating albums and nested albums (the equivalent of folders and subfolders on your computer) either by following the directions in the video below or by using *Valet.
As needed, buy additional Forever Storage at this link. In my experience, most people need 25 GB, and it's cheaper when you buy in bulk, too. You'll keep taking photos, so even if you don't think you need that much yet, you'll definitely fill it up. (That's been true for me!) Forever Storage is always on sale up to 25% off, and you can use my personal code for an extra 5% savings, too--just enter jennifer10383 at checkout. You'll have an option to purchase storage in one payment or in 24 smaller payments, so choose whatever you prefer.
*For an Easy Button method of getting what you just organized on your computer (Digital Storage #1) into your offsite storage (Forever Digital Storage, #2), try Valet software by Forever. It allows you to maintain the same organizational structure on your computer and upload in bulk to your secure Forever Storage.
That's it! You've successfully organized your photos in the two digital ways experts recommend, plus you've got an app to now access all your photos straight from your phone (and upload them from your phone, too, if you want)!
Semi-Optional Step 6: Store Your Photos in Print
I would call this "optional," but it's actually a really big deal. Your photo organization and preservation is NOT complete without this! And storing your photos in print has a few advantages above storing them digitally:
Pulling out a photo book makes our photos easily shareable. (And when you create your photo books or digital scrapbooks with Forever, you actually get a digital PDF version, too, so you can share and preserve both physically and digitally!)
You don't need an expensive gadget (phone, computer) to be able to see your photos. (And you don't have to worry if your book is fully charged or not.)
Books make great gifts. It's not really the same if you just email pictures to someone.
One thing you'll really love about Forever--aside from the highest quality books in the industry--is that if you're looking for a super fast way to make memory books, it's here. And if you're looking for fully creative digital scrapbooking, it's here. There are THREE ways to preserve your photos and memories in print. You're sure to find exactly what you want. Check out the three options and see what you prefer.
P.S. There's a really good way to always save an extra 5% on top of sale prices for both print and Forever Storage while always having a little money set aside for all the memory-keeping you want to do. Plus, you can earn free Forever Storage (after you've purchased some) at the same time! Learn more about Forever Club here.
Whew! You did it! You have learned how to organize your photos in 5 easy steps while also preserving them in two digital ways and one print way like experts recommend. Plus, you've now got access to all of them through a convenient app, and your photos are secure, private, and guaranteed to be accessible to the next generation. Congratulations!
Once you've followed these steps, keep going! But don't forget to come back to this post and let me know in the comments how everything went! Who do you know who would love to know about these steps, too? Use your referral link and you'll both get a $20 coupon. It doesn't get any better than that!
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Sometimes things change. And sometimes it affects your memory-keeping.
Memory-keeping is essentially preserving photos and memories. You make a record of life's events that you and your loved ones can look back on. And when you do, these kinds of things happen:
Memory-keeping is literally a feel-good activity. It's truly self-care. So getting back into it (or into it in the first place) really matters.
FALLING OUT OF THE MEMORY-KEEPING HABIT
There are so many reasons you might fall out of the memory-keeping habit.
Maybe your schedule changed. Maybe you had a life-changing event.
Maybe the system you used to use and love isn't so loveable for one reason or another. Maybe you're looking for something better.
Maybe you feel overwhelmed. Maybe you just need to get excited about it again.
I've been a memory-keeper for as long as I can remember, and I absolutely love it, but this happened to me! A big change that was out of my control required that I go looking for another digital scrapbooking option. I didn't fall out of the habit as much as the fun was just sucked out of it and my go-to method went away. I needed something amazing and reliable and fun.
GETTING BACK INTO IT
I think the most important thing you need in order to get back into memory-keeping (or get into it) is options. Everyone wants a high-quality book that's *guaranteed, but not everyone enjoys or wants the same process to get there.
*Yes, a 100% satisfaction guarantee for the printed product goes without saying, but I'm also talking about the longevity of the digital version. Some companies delete your projects after a certain amount of time, some companies charge you for a PDF version, etc. We all definitely want some guarantees for our books. Beyond that, we often have different needs, interests, available time, etc., for actually getting a book done.
If you haven't done scrapbooking, digital scrapbooking, or photo books for a while, this 30-minute class will get you back into it! You'll come away with both solutions and tools, and you'll have options.
Here's the Get Back Into It checklist, too! It includes all the live links and details for how to DO everything you learned in the class.
GETTING ON TOP OF IT
Getting back into it can get you on top of it! Once you get back into a memory-keeping habit, you'll be having fun with it, and that makes it easy to do. You ditch the overwhelm that way.
What's made you fall out of the memory-keeping habit? Which of the tips or tools I shared here do you think will help you the most? Tell me in the comments below.
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