How I Organize Memories

Let me be perfectly honest with you. I'm pretty much a paper hoarder. Ticket stubs, programs, every greeting card EVER. I keep eeeeeverything. All of this amazing hoarding memory saving begins begging for a storage system (or leaning precariously, ready to crush you in your sleep). After several iterations, I think I've settled on a final system that is both doable and accessible. I thought I would share in case you, like me, do not have the paper purging gene. 

You know how these things start. It first lived in a jumbled keep-sake box. Then it moved to an accordion file. Then a file box. It just kept growing! I needed to intervene before it became a sentient being and started stalking me around the house. 

 

Random box filled to the brim with wedding cards

If I was going to do something to permanently address this problem, it needed to be compact and allow me to actually see what I was saving. It's not like I was enjoying fond memories through giant paper piles. My solution was to scrapbook. *cue Psyco horror music* Before you start to panic, let me assure you these are not fancy scrapbooks. The key to this system is slapping stuff down and moving on. There is no embellishing, no fancy paper cutting. I like to think of it as just a flat, cuter filing system. 

 

For greeting cards, I cut the card in half so that the writing inside can be displayed beside the outside of the card. If there is a lot of dead space around the interior words I'll trim it down. 

I generally try to group like items or events together. Race numbers, wedding invitations, holiday cards, etc. 

What was revolutionary for me to really become efficient with this system was the discovery of those sticky dot rollers. Holy glue stick Batman! I flew through seven years (seven years?!?) worth of holiday cards in about an hour with one of those puppies. 

 

I do still utilize some filing systems to keep everything contained until I'm ready to stick some pages together. I have a single "Keep Sake" folder in my everyday paper sorting station. That way as soon as something save-able enters the house it has a designated home. I also have a small file bin with folders divided by category for when I sort out the everyday file box into the file cabinet every couple of months. This might seem like overkill, but it works for me to keep piles from forming on the counter tops or my desk. When I have a few spare minutes, I can grab a folder and my glue dot roller and go to town. 

 

This is seriously hack and slash scrapbooking. I don't own a paper cutter - it's just me chomping those cards apart with a pair of craft scissors. What made this a system I could stick with was the speed of assembly. I have too many other projects going to devote hours to making beautiful scrapbooks and not enough craft space to invest in scrapbook gear. Plus legit scrapbooks totally intimidate me. There are some incredibly talented scrapbookers out there! And I am not one of them! 

 

That's right, every post-it gets saved

So that's my version of memory storage. I've really enjoyed being able to actually see what I have saved without investing an unreasonable amount of time to maintain the system. An added bonus is that  this storage solution will grow with me. Instead of needing an ever larger box or file folder, I simply add to an album. 

How do you save memories? Are you better at letting go than I am?