We start off each new calendar year with a brand new slate for telling our stories so it’s a natural time to make some decisions about how to document our daily lives. While I do want to emphasize that we don’t have to have everything figured out for the entire year as of today, it’s also a good time to consider some overall approaches as some of them depend on daily action.

If you already have great habits established for documenting your everyday life + special occasions, then I suggest you stick with those. No need to fix something that isn’t broken! If you want to try some new approaches or need a new overall plan, I think you will find something in this post to help you get going.

Just like any other area, it helps to have a plan in place if you want to be a successful memory keeper. This doesn’t take a ton of organization if you make some basic framework decisions ahead of time. January happens to be a great time for this type of activity - but you really can start any time so don’t feel bad if you missed the first week of the year to get this done.

Frequency

How often do you want to be documenting your memories? Do you want to keep a daily journal? Do you want to write down important events and holidays? Do you want to keep track of the movies you watch, the books you read, and/or the recipes you try? Do you have any special projects you want to track during the year? All of these questions can help you determine the frequency to aim for. Here are a few main approaches that memory keepers take along with some helpful links if you want to explore more about each one.

Daily Documenting

This might include; daily journals (including blogs), planners that focus on memory keeping, photo-a-day projects, daily scrapbook layouts, daily Project Life albums, Project 365, and daily posting on social media networks for the purpose of sharing memories or recording daily events.

If you want to have a daily record of life in 2021, now is the time to start! Even if you are a few days late to start, it’s still doable. Here are some ideas and resources to help you with daily memory keeping:

• Use your calendar or planner to jot down the events that happen each day. You may want to set it out where you will see it each day or set a daily alarm as a reminder.

• Use a digital journal to keep track of events that you write down and auto-update from your social media feeds. I use Momento.

• Take a photo every day. Set an alarm on your phone or watch for the same time each day to be sure you don’t miss this. I set mine for 4 p.m. because if I haven’t taken one by then, I know I better hurry before it gets dark (in the winter months). There are several apps that you can use for daily photo projects. My favorite one is Collect (but it’s only for Apple).

• Whatever you do each day, be consistent. Establish the habit and stick with it.

Weekly

Some people set aside a day each week (often Sunday) to recap the past 7 days and record them. This is the format that a lot of Project Life scrapbookers follow setting aside one page per week. Any type of memory keeper can use this schedule and fill in their journals, planners, social media feeds, etc. The trick is going back through the past week and making sure to document all the happenings you want to remember.

• Even if you only document on a weekly basis, it’s still helpful to have some daily notes or a calendar to pull from.

• Most likely, you will still be taking photos more than once a week. But if not, at least you will remember to shoot some pictures on a weekly basis.

• Weekly documenting makes sure that you don’t ever go too long without recording life’s details.

• Project 52 is a term often used for weekly memory or photography projects.

Monthly

This is the approach I have blogged about for the past 15 years and I call it a Monthly Roundup. In reality, it works best if you are keeping some sort of daily or weekly notes to pull from when the end of the month rolls around. I chose monthly when I came up with the idea of the roundup because of a practice in a customer service job I held in college where we closed out the numbers of each month from invoices. It always felt like a great way to “roundup” the previous month to be ready to start the new calendar month. I’ve always felt like it was still manageable to go back through a month’s worth of memories (especially with photos and notes to guide me). Any longer than that, and it admittedly gets more difficult. For many people, it isn’t practical to work on photos and journaling on a daily or weekly basis. I felt that monthly was attainable for most without getting too overwhelming.

Other

Obviously, not everyone is going to choose one of the above frequencies. For some, it just happens when they have the time or energy. That’s certainly ok - but I will encourage you to still make some sort of plan. Otherwise, the tendency becomes to never actually get to it.

Tools and Supplies

Choosing the right tools and supplies for your projects is another important decision. If you want to be writing in a journal each day, you will want to have that journal on hand as soon as possible. If you hope to complete weekly layouts in a pocket album (such as Project Life), you will be more successful if you have the page protectors on hand and have a plan for printing your photos. Even digital projects benefit from some advanced planning. Plus, it’s fun to pick out the supplies!

• Shop for a new journal online or at a bookstore. Notebooks also make great journals or planners.

• Several apps work as digital planners and you can even design your own digital planning layouts in apps like GoodNotes.

• Physical planners can be found at office supply and craft stores. I personally love the Happy Planner line and I used it in 2018. I include the Happy Planner size in all of my printable packs.

• There’s a wide range of cameras and smartphones available these days and they are all pretty great. I currently use an iPhone 12pro for most of my photos. I do have a mirrorless Fujifilm XT-2 camera that I hope to master this year. That’s one of those goals that has been on my list for a few years now. I honestly believe that any camera that has been produced in the last 5 years is going to be a really good camera so don’t stress too much about this.

• Scrapbook albums are available in a HUGE array of choices. This is probably just a matter of choice in what you like to work with and what you want sitting on your shelves. Just look for photo-safe and high-quality supplies.

• I personally love photobooks. You have to wait longer until you can print the finished project, but they take up less room, look great on bookshelves, and can be reprinted to give as gifts or to give to a child moving away from home. I will be sharing a lot more about photobooks throughout this year. I’ve currently been using Printique (and I love them), but I do have another company or two I’ve been wanting to try.

I know this seems like a lot to think about all at once, but keep it simple. Decide how often you want to be documenting and then pick a fun format to use. You can certainly change your mind later on. The important thing is to just start.

The important thing is somehow to begin. - Henry Moore