How to Convert Traditional Scrapbooks to Digital Books

It's pretty amazing that we now have the capability to digitize an old scrapbook!  Isn't it?  Something that used to be a one-of-a-kind object can be duplicated.  

This can come in handy for several reasons.  Maybe you want to have multiple copies to share.  Maybe you want downsize and take some of the bulk out of old scrapbooks.  Maybe your scrapbooks are so old they're on magnetized pages from the 60s or 70s (which are acidic and eating away at your photos as we speak) and need to be rescued.  

Whatever the reason, if you have an old photo album or traditional scrapbook that you would like to digitize, you definitely want to do it with care.  

NOTE:  When I say "digital book," I really mean a book with a digital version that you print.  I know some people stick with digital-only versions, but photo experts maintain that a printed, hard-copy version is still one of the best ways to preserve photos and memories.  A digital, shareable backup is smart, too.

In my experience, Forever is the best place to do it.  That's because their digitizing services are rated highest in both quality and customer satisfaction, and because the quality of their print products is the best in the industry (including nearly indestructible spine bindings).  

NOTE:  I am a Forever affiliate (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post, from which I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.

So, if you've been looking for a high-quality way to convert your traditional scrapbooks or old photo albums to digital books, you've come to the right place! 

There are two parts to converting a traditional scrapbook to digital books, so let's get right to it.

FIRST, DIGITIZE

Digitizing your scrapbook pages means having them scanned. You can certainly do this on your own if you like. Be sure you use a high-quality flatbed scanner, saving your images at a minimum of 300dpi resolution as JPG (or JPEG) files. Be sure the glass on the scanner is free from lint, smudges, etc., for the best scan, and make sure your pages aren't dusty. Be sure to set aside some scanning time on your calendar, too.

If you'd like to save time AND let the pros dust your pages (and remove them from the book, if needed) and use their top-quality equipment and skills, I definitely recommend Forever Digitization because I've used and loved them multiple times. They actually have the highest rating on Trustpilot (an independent platform for business reviews), too. Plus, security is an enormous deal:

You can see how the Forever Box works at this quick video showing you the basics, or just scan this QR code to watch.

For more details beyond that quick, 3-minute introduction, I made this video for you.

By the way, if your book is already a digital PDF, you don't need this digitizing step to print your old book, but you do need to convert the PDF file to individual JPG files (one per page).  This is an easy, free resource for converting PDFs to JPGs.  When you convert, select the best quality (300dpi or above).

SECOND, UPLOAD AND PRINT

Now you're ready to upload the scans (or the JPGs you converted from the PDF) and put each page into a book page.  You can do this easily with Forever using AutoPrint, an auto-fill method of creating the book.  The pages get placed automatically for you, and then you can adjust as you like before submitting it for professional printing.  

There's an easy step-by-step guide here, too!!

Note:  All of the designs you'll see in Forever's Create & Print platform are free to use.  The ones labeled "AutoBook" or "Make it fast" are the AutoPrint templates that make it easy to convert your traditional scrapbooks to digital books.  The other templates you'll see just don't auto-fill, but if you'd rather place pages one at a time yourself, you'll just need to find a template with "full bleed" pages, meaning there's no border around it, so that your whole scrapbook page can fill the whole book page.  I can help you find those non-AutoPrint full-bleed page templates if you like--just reach out.

I was so happy when the home office at Forever made this 13-minute tutorial video, "Traditional Albums to Digital Books," walking us right through these steps! 

The software programs you're seeing here are free and available to you right from your Forever account (which is free, too). Get started here.

And, yes, you can make brand new digital books at Forever, too!

THAT'S IT!

Follow the DIGITIZE and UPLOAD & PRINT steps, and you've got an old, traditional scrapbook saved digitally.  With Forever, you can share it digitally, too, with a simple link, and you can print it (and re-print it) to share with as many people as you'd like, too.

I'd love to see your end result--share photos with Photo & Story Treasures Fans, our Facebook group.  Join at that link and then show us photos or even a video of your new digital book so we can celebrate together.

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How to Downsize Photos and Scrapbooks

Can you imagine living in the mid-1800s when you might only have 5 or 10 photos of yourself or your loved ones taken during your lifetime?

One of the perks of living in the 21st century is that we can have all the photos we want of our loved ones, of special occasions and everyday events.  The downside is that they do take up space.  They take up digital space, or they take up physical space.  (And we kind of get to choose which.)

If you're looking to downsize, say for an RV lifestyle or simply downsizing your home (or even just because you have too many photos to deal with), I'll share some top-quality ways to do it that don't take away from the connections that photos and memories are filled with.

Boy, do I have a treat for you!  It's actually pretty amazing what we can do with our photos and memories these days while still preserving them and making them shareable!  

Downsizing in General

Before we look at downsizing digitally and downsizing in print, let's talk first about downsizing in general.

That 21st century perk I mentioned earlier--having all the photos we want--is definitely a double-edged sword.  

It's so, so sweet to catch unexpected moments and keep them forever, like the best photo after a long day at Disneyland

or that same little one in a quick, perfect pose with his big sister after his high school graduation.

It's how we see faces of those who have passed on, how we pass down family stories (trust me, this is a great & hilarious one), 

This family story is called "handmade potato salad." 
I've never heard my grandmother laugh so hard.

and how we "meet" people we've never met.

These are the obvious, wonderful perks of being able to take and keep as many pictures as we want.

Sometimes, though, we take and keep more than we can even look at! 

Have you ever thought about that?  Do we--do you, do I?--have more pictures than we can look at?

One of the most important things we can do with photos today is downsize them so we don't have more than we can look at.  I admit I am still learning to get good at this, but if we have more pictures than we can look at, we have too many for our children and their children to look at, too, which would be a shame.  (See photos above!)

To downsize your photos, you simply choose your favorites.  Choose the ones you can't live without.  Choose the ones you absolutely love.  Preserve those.

Maybe you come from a "we don't throw anything away" era, or maybe it's just hard to part with photos.  It might take some practice.  And that's ok.

Just remember:  you want to pass on a gift, not a burden.

You want to share today's photos and memories in digestible amounts.

So be brave and be willing to pare down.  45 pictures from today's visit to the park are certainly fun and sweet, but just choose your favorites to keep.  It will make you less overwhelmed with your photos, will take up less physical space in your house, and will take up less digital space on your computer/phone/cloud.  And then those photos will be a gift, both now and later.

For specific tips on how to downsize your photos, read Decluttering & Organizing Photos at this link.

Downsizing Digitally

One way to downsize photos is to digitize them.  Digital photos still "take up space," but if you're looking to avoid taking up physical space (for downsizing a home, for RV life, etc.), choosing digital or cloud space instead is an excellent option. 

Photos taken on phones and digital cameras are already digital, but if you have boxes of printed photos, you can downsize them by making them digital, or "digitize" them, too.  

You can do this by scanning the photos yourself or by hiring out the scanning to a professional.  Find some DIY scanning options at this link (scroll down to the bottom), or consider the Forever Box for white-glove professional scanning services.  In addition to being done by professionals (which I can't say enough about), it's easy and convenient, too.  You can see the basic process in this 1-minute video.

You can get your Forever Box(es) here.

Once your memories are digitized, you want to store them digitally in a shareable way.  It really, really matters what company you choose to help you accomplish this.  

NOTE:  I am a Forever affiliate (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post, from which I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.

These are the most important things to know when choosing a cloud digital photo/video storage service:

• Are my photos and videos private?  (In other words:  Will you not sell my data and/or photos? Yes, that is--shockingly--a thing!)
• Are they guaranteed to still be at your site 10 or 50 or 100 years from now so I (and my family) can still access them?
• Are they triple-backed-up using bank-encrypted security?
• Can I pass them on to my children and/or grandchildren?
• Can I easily share my digital photos, videos, and digital photobooks with others?
• Will you update my file formats (.jpeg, .jpg, .png, .tiff, .mp4, .avi, .mov, .pdf, etc.) if they ever become obsolete so that they will still be readable and accessible in the future?

The best company out there to answer all these questions with a resounding YES is Forever, and when you have the (free) Forever app, you can easily access decades'-worth and generations'-worth of family photos, videos, and even audio files.  That means you can easily share them with your friends and family!

I love that I can have easy access straight from my phone to show anyone pictures that I didn't take with my phone, like my baby pictures or photos of my grandparents' wedding.  I love that I can store all my photos digitally and securely with Forever so that they don't take up storage space on my phone.

I can access my Forever Storage from my phone and tablet, too.  

Let me show you how incredibly awesome this is!

And I love that I actually BUY Forever Storage so that I own it forever.  I don't pay a monthly fee, so I don't "rent" digital storage.  It's actually MINE.

Forever Storage is, hands down, the way to go for downsizing all your memories digitally.  

"Storing" photos isn't all there is to it, though.  It's the SHARING that matters!

Photos by themselves aren't meaningful to anyone unless we know the stories behind the photos.  Something I think is perfect about Forever Storage is that you can tag and add descriptions to your photos, like this:

The tags are down there in the bottom right in blue.  I tagged this particular photo with both of our names along with "anniversary," "Europe," and "Germany."  In Forever Storage, you can search tags, too, so if I want to search "anniversary" (or any of those tags I used), this photo will come up.

You can also see (at the right) a description of this photo.  This is the story behind the photo--our memories!  I was able to share photos with my family (using a link to this album in my Forever Storage) right after this magical trip, and they got the whole story because I added descriptions to the pictures!

I think this is the perfect way to have a sort of "digital scrapbook" without actually having a digital scrapbook.  (BONUS:  With Forever, you can have amazing digital scrapbooks, too, both digitally and in print!  Stay tuned...)

Learn more about Forever Storage here.

Before we move on to how to downsize your photos in print, I'll share with you this video where I give you all the fantastic details of Forever Storage.  

And you're always welcome to contact me if you have any questions.  I want every family and every individual with photos and memories to be able to have Forever Storage!

Downsizing in Print

Yes, there is an increasing emphasis on storing and preserving and sharing photos and memories digitally these days--and it's an excellent way to downsize when physical space is an issue--but experts say we should preserve our photos and memories both digitally and in print.

So how can we downsize our printed memory-books, photos, and scrapbooks?  Let me show you!

I was a paper scrapbooker for about 10 years before digital scrapbooking came along.  Both types of memory-keeping allow for creativity and plenty of all-important journaling (writing down the memories that go with the photos), but as it turns out:  digital scrapbooks are smaller than the old-fashioned kind.  They don't take up as much room.

Going digital is definitely a space-saver!  Those two scrapbooks shown above contain roughly the same amount of photos covering the same amount of time.  The binder on the left is a 3-inch binder, which actually measures closer to 3  1/2 inches.  The book on the right has a spine that measures a tad shy of 1/2 inch.  

And there's more.

#1 When you create your digital scrapbooks with Forever, there's both an easy option that you can do in minutes, and there's also a flexible software option that you can get very creative with, if you prefer.  (Both are printed on papers and with ink that are the highest quality in the industry.)  Choose your favorite method here:

#2 Forever automatically gives you the PDF version of your scrapbook.  (Not all companies do that, by the way.)  And the PDF has a shareable link *once you've ordered it, so if I want to show you one of my scrapbooks, I can just give you a link, and you can look all the way through the "pages" right from your phone, tablet, or computer.  (Like this: see my beach book here.) 

*This is true for books you create with Forever's free Design & Print software (the easy option).  If you created it using Artisan, Forever's digital scrapbooking software, it will have a share link as soon as you put it in your Forever account, whether you've printed it or not.  See the "3 platforms" video above to learn more.  Another option is to "share" your Forever account with close family by giving them the username and password so they, too, can see your digital books and the photos in your account.

When my sister-in-law asked me about Artisan software, it was so easy to just send her my whole 2022 Yearbook in a couple of clicks.  She looked through my entire year in scrapbook form just on her phone.

This is how you share a PDF with someone.  It's so easy:

Preserving your photos and memories digitally in printed books using one of the 3 methods mentioned earlier (in the "walk through" video) is great for already-digital photos you haven't preserved yet, but what if you have gigantic scrapbooks like my big binder (below) that you want to downsize?

Scanning old scrapbook pages and putting those scans into a digital scrapbook is one popular option.  Similar to the printed photos I mentioned in the "Downsizing Digitally" section, you can scan scrapbook pages yourself or let the professionals do it at the Forever Digitizing Center.  If you've got 12x12 scrapbook pages, finding a big enough scanner on your own can be challenging, but the folks at Forever Digitizing have that capability (with white-glove care).  

You'd need a Forever Specialty Box for your large scans instead of the regular Box, but the same process you saw in the video a few minutes ago still applies.  You can get your Forever Box(es) here.

This is a great tutorial from the Forever home office showing you how to put scanned photos in a simple book with a quick auto-fill!

If you're in need of some photo and/or scrapbook downsizing, downsizing your photos in general is a great place to start--just because we can take 500 pictures a day doesn't mean we should.  Plus, there are some excellent ways to downsize both digitally and in print.

What downsizing tip is the best one for you today?  Let me know in the comments.

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Photos to Conquer? Start With Organization.

Being consistently caught up preserving your photos starts with organization.  If you have a lot of years’ worth of photos to catch up on, organizing them first is key.  How will you know where to start if you don’t know what you have?

I’ve held on to a great piece of advice I got a few years ago, which was that if any activity takes longer than 15 minutes, it should be on your calendar.  Otherwise, you never “find time” because you’re not making time.  

#1 Set Aside the Time

So the first must-do when organizing your photos is to set aside time for it.  Don't try to "find time" for your photos.  Make time.

Put it on your calendar.  Then honor yourself by keeping your appointment with yourself.  Treat it like you would a doctor's appointment or a haircut.  

If you're not sure how you might make time, consider the first Saturday of every month, or every Friday over lunchtime.

Or, what about this 10 Minutes Daily Plan?  Check it out and see if it might be a good fit for you:

#2 Sort Your Photos

Second, you may remember from {When Photo Overload Becomes Photo Overwhelm} that you really need to SORT your photos.  If you only have 30 photos of your grandfather, just keep them all.  That’s easy.  But if you have pictures of the ground or someone’s finger, if you have 45 pictures of decorating your Christmas tree, just choose your favorites.  

You need to choose a manageable amount of photos to preserve.  

(For tips on what to do with the extras, or tips on how to know what to keep, {click here}.)

You can find a more detailed guide to sorting (and organizing) in the Photo Organization and Preservation video (from a class I taught) below.

#3 Label as You Organize

Third, LABEL!  Everything needs to be labeled as you organize.  Make a note of dates–when was the picture taken?–and who is in it.  

A picture isn’t even worth anything if nobody knows who is in the picture.

Of course, pictures come in two flavors:  printed photos and digital photos.  Let's look at how to organize each.

ORGANIZING PRINTED PHOTOS

You can go one of two ways with photos that are already printed.  1- Put the photos in a scrapbook or album.  2- Digitize (scan the photos) to preserve them in a {digital photo-storybook or digital scrap pages}.  Either way, you'll need to get those printed photos organized first.

I suggest organizing physical (printed) photos in physical folders or envelopes.  Be sure you DATE the folders, though!  I suggest a large folder or envelope with the year, then smaller folders inside with months and years.  For example, label a large envelope “1994,” then label smaller envelopes inside “January 1994,” “February 1994,” and so on.  Put your photos in the smaller month envelopes.  Then you’ll know where to find everything since it’s organized chronologically.

Here’s what I did.  

My parents were really good at putting photos in albums and writing a little something next to them.  However, before my mom died, she gave me boxes of mementos that included quite a few photos.  As I prepared to make her {life storybook}, I found photos I’d never seen before and lots of mementos that needed to be scanned so I could make the digital book.  

I sat in the middle of the room and started organizing by decade.  Anything that happened in the 1970s went in one pile, the 60s in another, and the 50s in another, and so on.  After I organized by decade, I got 10 folders for each decade.  I put 1970 in one folder and marked it with a sticky note.  I put 1971 in another folder and did the same.  Pretty soon, I had all my mom’s 72 years’ worth organized!  I could find anything.

If you don't want to preserve the hard copy (printed) photos in a scrapbook or album but instead prefer to digitize them so you can preserve them in a {digitalbook or scrap pages}, you’ll need to first have them scanned.  

Digitizing photos is a great way to share them, and digital books or scrap pages are an easy way to get multiple copies without extra work.  Scanning services can be hired out, or you can do it yourself using several methods--find scanning information here.  

Once they’re scanned, you’re ready to organize your digitized photos.

UPDATE 2021:  For white glove service for your photo scanning, try the Forever Box!  Order a box, get it in the mail, fill it with photos, and send it back.  Your photos will be scanned and digitized, with white glove service, in a couple of weeks.

ORGANIZING DIGITAL PHOTOS

First things first.  If you don’t know how to get your photos from your camera or phone to your computer, I walk you through it in this 5-minute video.  The video is specific to a phone, but it's similar with a camera.  

Once you’ve gotten that far, you’re ready for the organizing part.

If you're a metadata guru, by all means:  Do your thing.  If you are a person with a camera who loves pictures, consider this simple approach (or watch the video below for a walk through all of this):

Digital photos add a little bit of an extra challenge because they’re files.  As such, they have file names, like IMG_0889.  Your computer will automatically alphabetize your files, which puts them in chronological order.  I actually don’t recommend you go in and change the name of your files.  (Unless you've already mastered a system where you can do that.  Most people struggle with it.) 

Sure, you could change IMG_0889 to firstdayofcollege.jpg, but the problem with that is that when you go back to find it you may not remember what you called it.  And triptothebeach.jpg might be from 1999 or from 2017.

However, if you get a new camera or have some photos from your phone and some from your camera, your files will not automatically be listed by date since they have different names.

My suggestion is to keep the original name of the file, boring as it is, unless you need to add a little something to keep it in chronological order.  For example, my father-in-law and my sister-in-law and I always share photos after we get together.  My father-in-law’s come to me as DSCN_1234, and my sister-in-law’s come to me as 100_1234.  So in order to use my photos and theirs and keep them all in order, I will rename them all to fall in line, like DSCN_1111, DSCN_1112, etc.  Sometimes I will add a little something on the end if I am running out of numbers, like DSCN_1113a, DSCN1113b, etc.

Hooray!  My Photos are Organized.  Now What?

After you’ve organized your photos, you’re ready to preserve them–you’re ready to save them in a tactile way that people can see, hold, and love.  This allows the photos to be interacted with, and that’s how memories are preserved and connections are made.  This is the only meaningful way to store a photo.

Just don’t forget that after you’re done patting yourself on the back and jumping up and down now that your photos are organized (which you should do!) you need to keep doing it.  Don’t let the photos you take this month and next month stay on your camera until 2027.

A wide variety of high-quality products from the heart can be created and published
{following these steps}.

There are a lot of options for preserving your photos in print (publishing them).  I’ll be a broken record again and just say that you MUST use a high-quality way to preserve your photos.  You don’t want your book or album falling apart in 5 years.  And you MUST find a memory-keeping method you actually enjoy doing.  It makes preserving photos and memories so much easier!

One of my favorite methods is a digital yearbook, which you can learn about at {this link}. Because of the way it’s organized, it just comes together very quickly.  Or if you'd like the creative flexibility of digital scrapbooking (creating using your computer, then printing your book professionally) better,{you might love my favorite digital scrapbooking method here}.  Both are printed using the highest quality in the industry.

Make this year your year!  Conquer those photos.  Calendar your plans.  Commit to yourself.  

It’s a gift of wellness of heart and soul, both to you and your loved ones. 

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This post was originally published at www.livegrowgive.org on January 26, 2018, by Jennifer Wise.  More #familyhistoryfriday posts can be found below by clicking the hashtag next to Labels.

Mastering Memory-Keeping in 8 Doable Steps

If you're like most people, your memories are everywhere--in photos, in videos, on your computer, on your phone, or in the cloud (probably, you think).  

Get ready to master memory-keeping, because when you do you are inviting this into your life:

I have been coaching people with their memory-keeping since 2005, so by now I'm able to really distill it down and guide you step-by-step through the process.  These 8 Steps will serve you better than what you're doing now.  

This post is the honest advice I'd give anyone, everyone!  No mincing words.  I'll show you what you need to do, and why. 

To master memory-keeping--to get a handle on all your memories, photos, videos, etc., and make them accessible and protected so you can enjoy them--just follow these 8 Steps.  Five of these steps are "one & done"--they only need to be done once--while three of them need to be repeated regularly. 

Step 1: Know what you have.  Find it.  

Think of all the places your memories currently reside.  Are they on your computer?  Are they in the cloud (like Apple or Google or Dropbox)?  Phone?  Flash drive?  8mm film?  Slides?  VHS tapes?  Have you gotten some from your parents or grandparents?

Depending on what you have and where it is, accomplishing this step may look a little different for you than it will for someone else.  You may want to make a written list of everything you have and where it is.  Or, you may want to physically put all your printed photos, external hard drives, film, VHS tapes, old scrapbooks, etc., in one place.

Either way, this is a "one & done" step--something you only have to do this once.  

Don't be shy about enlisting help from others, too.  Knowing what you have and where it is is the first step in mastering memory-keeping.  When you've done that, you're ready to move on to Step 2.

Step 2:  Get everything back.  

Specifically, get everything that is endangered back.

You read that right.  Some of your memories may be endangered.  You probably already know that magnetic photo albums (which aren't literally magnetic, but have a sticky adhesive coating on the pages) from decades ago, and even some today, contain photo-damaging acids, and you should definitely get those photos out of that danger.  But did you know this?

Your digital photos in the cloud are most likely endangered, too.

For Step 2, if your digital files are only being stored in the cloud (like Apple, Google, Dropbox, etc.) download your photos back to your own computer or hard drive.  *Empty your accounts.  *Cancel your payments.  And be aware that this save-them-to-your-own-device step is only temporary.  I know this sounds abrupt and maybe a little shocking, but I'll explain why this is an absolutely vital step.  

*If you prefer to do this after completing Step 5, that's just fine.

HERE'S WHY

When I first heard about this I didn't think it was true--because WHO DOES THAT?!--but it is true:  most cloud photo storage services (especially free ones, but paid ones, too) have fine print that doesn't ensure the security of your photos, your privacy, or even your account.  Here are just a few examples.

This happened to me, too!  The company (which wasn't even any of these mentioned above) changed from a private photo storage and publishing company to just publishing only.  Just like that.  You can read my experience here.

Definitely read the brief article by Jordan LaCrosse about his experience: The Heartbreaking Consequences of an iOS 18 Update.

So, for Step 2, get all your memories back.  Make sure you own them and have access to them.  (Access for very old media like slides, photos stuck on magnetic pages, and VHS tapes will be covered in Step 7.)  Remove old photos from old scrapbooks if they are endangered and you can safely remove them.   

Move digital photos and videos to your computer or an external hard drive (both would be safest).  If necessary, put old printed photos you're removing from scrapbooks into a box.  Again, this will only be temporary.  

Then don't wait very long before doing Step 3! The temporary homes (your computer, a box) don't keep your memories as safe as we're going to keep them.  You need to get to Step 5 ASAP (and 3 & 4 are quick).

This is another "one & done" step.  Once you do this, you won't ever have to do it again!

Experts say to store your photos 3 ways--2 digital ways (one on-site and one off-site) and 1 in print.  We will cover all of those by Step 8.  Your computer (or external hard drive) counts as 1 digital way.  It's considered on-site because it's in your house.  If both of your digital ways are at your house and there's a fire or flood, storing in two digital ways hasn't done you any good.  One digital way should be off-site (out of your house), which we will cover in Step 5.

NOTE:  I am a Forever affiliate (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find several affiliate links in this post, from which I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.

Step 3:  Open a Forever account.

This is certainly the easiest and fastest step of all.  This is a "one & done" step!  A Forever account is free and you can open it in less than a minute.  

Having a Forever account is your most powerful, most guaranteed tool in mastering memory-keeping.  The memory-keeping issues you may have discovered while doing (or even before) Steps 1 and 2 are all resolved here, beginning in Step 3.

HERE'S WHY 

Forever is different from anything else out there.  There's no fine print for storing your photos and videos with Forever.  They guarantee your privacy, and they guarantee your photos/videos will be there for another generation.  In fact, it's in their company charter.

Forever Storage is actually quite a bit more than just storage.  You and I get all these benefits:

Forever also offers photo-storybooks (digital scrapbooking/photo books) that are the highest quality in the industry with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

book made with Artisan, Forever's digital scrapbooking software

made with Design & Print, Forever's template software (free)

Plus, they have a top-quality digitizing center where professionals can digitize your home movies and slides, scan photos (even the ones stuck in albums), and much more, all with white-glove service.  (More on this in Step 7.)

There is nothing about memory-keeping that isn't done--and done the best--by Forever.

Open your free Forever account at this link.

Step 4:  Join Forever Club.

The only thing faster and easier than Step #4 might be Step #3.  Forever Club is free, and you can join in a minute or two.  But do this step ASAP because getting on to Step #5 is so important--it's where you'll safeguard (and fireproof!) your photos, videos, audio files, and even PDF versions of your digital photobooks.

Forever Club is basically just a savings program where you deposit a certain amount of dollars in your account which you can then use toward photo-storybooks, Forever Storage, or digitizing services with the Forever Box.  

To master memory-keeping, it just makes the most sense to be in Forever Club.

HERE'S WHY

• Club Dollars never expire.  You can save them up month after month to make a larger purchase.
• Club members of any level save 5% on their purchases (on top of sale prices).
• You choose your level or any combination of levels that suits your needs.  Choose $25, $50, $100, or $250/month, or add any two of them together if you prefer.
• You can enter and exit Forever Club at any time, but since I've told you I'm not going to mince words here:  Just join and stay.  You keep taking pictures, and Club is the best way to always have some money set aside for memory-keeping needs.  (It does auto-renew monthly unless you quit.)
• Every 3 consecutive months you are in Forever Club at the same level, you earn free Forever Storage (after you've purchased some initially).  For example, 3 months at the $50 level gives you 1 GB free photo storage, which is enough for around 250 photos!

Join Forever Club at this link, at whatever level will fit your needs best.

This "Join Forever Club" step can be considered a "one & done" step if you pick a monthly amount you like and stay with it for the foreseeable future, but you can always revisit this step and adjust as needed.

Step 5:  Upload and Organize Photos (in 3 parts).  

It's a very big deal to do Step #5--you're finally starting to preserve your memories (in all their forms) safely and for generations.  This is "fireproofing" your memories, too!  

To upload your photos to your secure, guaranteed Forever Storage, first do these two things:

1. Buy Forever Storage.  (If needed, refer back to Step 2 about why you shouldn't be using popular cloud services for your photos.  Read my experience about discovering that I actually WANT to BUY my cloud storage and OWN it.)  See the Forever Storage options here (which are cheaper by the GB when you buy in bulk) and purchase it there as well.  Keep in mind that if you choose the monthly payment plan instead of the one-time purchase, you still own your storage--you are not paying a rental fee or a maintenance fee!  It's YOURS forever. 
2. Download the free app.  This might be optional for you, but if you take any photos using your phone, you will want the free Forever app because it's a cinch to upload photos from your phone to your Forever Storage.  The video below shows you how the app works and all its conveniences.

You may want to consider these suggestions for downsizing photos as you decide which ones you want to keep safe for generations in your Forever Storage.  (All of them is certainly an option, too.  It's your call.)

Learn more about downsizing photos in this article.

The 3rd part of Step 8 is to upload and organize your photos (and other digitized media) in your Forever Storage.  This video walks you through how to do that:

If you'd like to edit your photos, you can do that right in Forever also!  This video just shows the basics:

Buy and OWN your Forever Storage at this link, at whatever amount you need.  Most people need at least 25 GB for photos, or more for also storing video.

And, yes, you can always buy some now and buy more later--it doesn't all have to be purchased at once.

This is one of the few steps that is not a "one & done"--you'll need to return to this step regularly as you take more pictures, or as you digitize more memories (see Step 7).  We'll talk more about this in Step 8.

Step 6:  Preserve Photos and Memories in Pages.  

Experts say to preserve photos both digitally and in print!  So far, we've taken care of the digital side.  Now let's look at preserving photos and memories in print.

One thing that is very important to keep in mind as you become a Memory-Keeping Master is the difference between storing photos and preserving them.  

This step is one of the few that you'll repeat regularly, and we'll focus on how to do that (including some strategies) in Step 8.

For now, just get started.  Watch this video, which walks you through the three ways Forever gives us to preserve memories in pages.  They are all highest quality print and have a 100% satisfaction guarantee.  I love that there are options!  You can choose the one that YOU think is the best!  (Hint:  You can't lose.)

Remember, too, that Forever Club Dollars can go toward printed items, too, like these beautiful digital photo-storybooks (and Artisan software and digital art, too).  Also, print products are almost always on sale, somewhere from 20%-50% off, so don't pay too much attention to the full price since you won't ever need to pay it.

By the way, it's not just photos and memories you can preserve in pages!  Use QR codes to save video there as well!  Learn how at this link.

Step 7: Digitize old memories.  

What is digitizing?  That's simple.  It's converting physical memories like a film reel or a floppy disc or printed photos to digital form so that they can be played on a computer or DVD, shared via email or link, etc.

This step could really go anywhere in this process, but I've chosen to put it near the end because once you have Steps 1-6 done, you're well-equipped to take care of precious older memories, including photos stuck on magnetic pages and that audio tape from Grandma.  

All you really need to do for this step is take what you gathered in Step 1 and fill a Forever Box with it.  

When you order a Forever Box, you are paying for the scanning services plus 3-way shipping, and your Forever Box comes with a booklet of instructions, so the process is easy and clear (though you can always contact me if you have questions).  You can see the basic process of digitizing with a Forever Box in this 1-minute video.

It's not a doomsday overreaction to say:  Start with your VHS tapes.  Your time with them is limited.  VHS tapes lose their magnetic charge after 10-20 years, which basically means they decay.

Step #7 can be considered "one & done," but since there is an expense associated with it, you may want to do it a little at a time.  Forever Club will help break up that expense if you'd like.  Start with VHS tapes, then do print photos from your parents, move on to the slides Grandpa gave you from the 60s, etc.

One important tip is to fill up your Forever Box.  Here's why.  Each Box's price includes shipping and the digitization of a certain number of "items."  (You can see a list of items in the link below--one "item" is a video tape, 25 print photos, etc.)  However, you aren't limited to the number of "items" allowed in your box--you're only limited by space in the box.  You pay an extra per-item fee, but the shipping cost stays the same.  So filling up the box allows you to have more items digitized without having to pay more shipping.

While you are working your way through your digitizing to-do list that you made in Step 1, keep photos, scrapbooks, discs, 8mm film, and anything else you want to digitize in a cool, dry place, away from sunlight and moisture.  An attic or garage is the worst possible place for them.

Order your Forever Box at this link--they come in different sizes depending on your needs.  For large scans such as 12x12 scrapbook pages and other specialty items, make sure you get a Forever Specialty Box.

Step 8:  Maintain.  

You made it!  Woo hoo!  You're now in the Maintenance Phase!

In the Maintenance Phase, here's what you'll do--and I'll give you some helpful ideas to do it, too:

• leave Step 4 going on its own each month (Forever Club) 
• do Step 5 monthly (upload & organize photos--see the Month's End Picture Plan below, or this awesome 10 Minutes Daily Plan)
• do Step 6 monthly or quarterly (preserve photos and memories in pages)

For your monthly upload and organization of photos (Step 5), I suggest this Month's-End Picture Plan.

Mark your calendar on the last day of the month (or the 4th Sunday, or whatever works best for you).  If you do this step regularly, you will have beaten Photo Overwhelm!  You won't be stuck.  Memory-keeping won't be hard.  It'll just be fun.

Again, don't just think "Oh, yeah, I'm going to do that at the end of the month."  Mark your calendar.  Set a reminder.  Set aside the time.  Depending on how many pictures you took during the month, this could take you 10 minutes or an hour.  I can't emphasize this more:  To make it happen, set aside the time.  Remember that spending time with your photos has been shown in studies to increase happiness and relaxation (among other things like self-esteem), so this is needed time!

You can even use a shortcut if you want.  Some people like using the auto-sync feature in the Forever app. 

If you use this handy tool for Step 5, you will still probably want to go through what's been uploaded to your Forever Storage and delete things you've taken pictures of that you don't actually want to save forever, like recipes or that thing on sale at Hobby Lobby.  (Or is that just me?)

For your monthly (or quarterly if that's better for you) preserving memories in pages (Step 6), I have a few suggestions that might help.  (If daily/weekly works better for you, you have to watch this 10 Minutes Daily Plan tutorial video!)  

• Many people enjoy working with others while doing their memory-keeping.  For many, it helps the goal get accomplished because you've committed to someone else to do it, and for many it's a fun social time, too.  Get together with your sister/friend for lunch/dinner one Friday/Saturday a month (in person or over Zoom), OR join my quarterly online (free) workshop.  See all the events I currently have going on at this link.
• Like Step 5, this Step 6 works only when you've set aside time for it.  Set aside the time on your calendar.
• One very helpful idea is to create your own group, your own memory-keeping tribe!  Have your friends bring laptops for a "girls night" and work together on your memory-keeping.  Use your Referral Link and you'll get $20 coupons for each friend after she's made a Forever purchase!  I can do all the footwork to get you going with this, too--just contact me.  This is a fun thing to do long-distance, too, over Zoom or FaceTime or your preferred video conferencing method.

If you take a lot of pictures each month, you should do Step 6 monthly.  If some months have more pictures than others, quarterly may work well for you.  The key is to not get overwhelmed.  Work on pages a little at a time.  For super quick pages, some people like this Yearbook idea using Design & Print:

And that's it!  These 8 Steps get you to the top of your memory-keeping mountain.  Congratulations on being a master at memory-keeping!  

Let me know your favorite tip or Step in the comments!

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