Tag: memory keeping

Memory keeping has quickly became one of my all time favorite ways to use The Happy Planner, although it may not seem that way with how far behind I am. Let’s just say that I’m still working on 2018 memories! I keep telling myself I will get caught up and I will not fall behind again, but then life happens and it doesn’t work out. I love seeing memory keeping spreads on Instagram, but when you’re as far behind as I am, you can’t have the same lofty expectations to have a perfect memory keeping spread each week. Here are some of my tips to get caught up if you are behind on memory keeping.

1. Don’t have too high of expectations on yourself. The best thing you can do is to get caught up and then make it a habit so you don’t get behind again. In order to get caught up, sometimes you just don’t use stickers and you just put the picture down and write a caption, and that’s okay because your memories are still down on paper and it will still be fun to look back at. If you go into it with the expectation that you are only going to glue the pictures down and journal a quick caption, than you will be so proud of yourself when you finally are up to day.
2. Print all your pictures at once. I had to print six months worth of pictures, and that took me a while to put them all into a collage and sort through, but getting all of them printed at once prevented me from going back and forth to the store to pick up each months photos separately.
3. Once you have the printed pictures, sort the photos by month. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sit down at one time and glue 8 months of photos down so I chose to label baggies and put the months pictures in there. This helped me stay organized and not have pictures all over the place when the time came to glue them down.
4. I chose to glue down one month at a time so when it was time to do that I took the pictures out of the baggie and sorted them into the week. I am well known for printing way to many pictures or multiple pictures of one event. For example, when my foster kiddo plays with the dog, I will take about one million pictures until I have that perfect shot! I’m sure you’re not like that at all right? 😂 Well, if you are like me and you print about four-five of the same picture, now would be the time to decide which one you actually want to glue down and put the rest in an extra pile, maybe you can use it for a monthly memories page, or in your monthly spread, or if it is a really special picture you can hang it on the wall in your craft room or put it on your desk! Sometimes I do end up throwing pictures away, but I would rather have too many options than not enough.
5. Start by gluing all the pictures down then going back to journal. To me, this is a better way to start so that if I don’t end up journaling about the pictures until later that week, or even month if you know me, all the pictures will be down and you won’t have stacks of pictures laying around while you take the time to complete each week.
6. After you are done with gluing the pictures down and journaling, you could flip through some sticker books and see if your want to add some embellishment stickers, but there is no pressure to do that, because at least your pictures are down and you have a little reminder of what that picture was about! You could also add a colorful box to journal in which will add some color and flair to the spread.
7. Don’t over think it. Getting caught up shouldn’t be a chore. Do it because you want to and the memories are more important than the time it takes! It doesn’t have to be perfect by any means! Once you are caught up you can make it a habit and work towards finding a style that you love best!
8. Have fun! Looking back at your memories should be fun and it will be even more fun to have them all down on paper and in your memory planner. Then you will be able to look back for years to come and see all the fun you had! Memory keeping isn’t always about the big events in life, they are the small daily details. Those small moments will be what you love looking back on over the years! I know I will when I have pictures of all my foster children to look back on, and all the sweet small moments we had with each of them!

I hope that this post has encouraged you to catch up, or even start a memory keeping planner. They are so fun to have so you can look back on all your years of memory making. It’s never too late to start and there is always a way to get caught up, no matter how far behind you are.

💜Amber Thorne