Hi there!

Today I’m starting a new series on my blog about memory keeping organisation. I specifically use this system for pocket page scrapping, but even if you aren’t a pocket memory keeper, you might find something useful. Today I’m going to talk about tracking what we’ve done, and managing my album. My system works particularly well if I’ve fallen behind.

Index Card Box:

Do you like index cards? I love them, but for a long time I had no idea what to actually use them for. Early last year it occurred to me that the 6×4 size has a place in my memory keeping, and my index box was born.

I have one card for each week, which I’ve stamped both the weeks and days on. You can also add the dates if you like. Last year I used dates, this year I’m trying days. Throughout each week I jot down notes of what we’ve done on the cards. I don’t tend to write much, it’s more a memory jogger, but if there’s something the kids have said for example, that I’d like to remember, I’ll jot it down on the back. These cards live in the box, until I’m up to scrapping that week. I then take the card with all it’s memory joggers, and use it to pick photos and create my layout. The card itself is placed in a 6×4 slot in my album behind a photo or journal card so that way I’ve always got that reminder of our week, even if I only ended up journaling about a few things.

I also include monthly calendar cards, the one pictured in my main image is from Larkindesigns, which I’ve added a month tab too, which gives me a calendar to refer to when filling out the weeks, but it also serves as a spot I can pop things behind (read on!).

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty bad at remembering when I have a specific card that I want to use for a particular event, season, month etc, so I also use this box to keep track of those. In addition to the monthly, and weekly cards, I also have seasons scattered throughout. I’m now sorting through my pocket card stash and putting any card that relevant to a particular season, month, or event, into the box, behind the relevant divider. This way I’ll remember to use them! I also will add any small pieces of ephemera that I want to include in my album, like ticket stubs for example.

The final use for my index box, is to keep photos I thought I might use, but didn’t. This gives me a small supply of photos should I wish to complete a travelers notebook layout.

Project Life Tracker

Next up I use a project life tracker to keep track of exactly where I’m at. I showed this in an IG story last year had every intention of sharing it before now, so apologies if you remember that and wondered where it was!

My tracker is divided into three sections; photos, journaling, and embellisments. It’s basic, but it works for me as a visual guide for where I’m up to. I use highlighters to make sure I can see where I need to go back and complete weeks, and use the notes section to note if there’s something I need to remember, for example, sometimes I’ll use a different design pocket page one week, but that of course then flows on to the next week which in turn affects what size photos I need and how many.

Free printables!

Season dividers:

The season dividers are really easy to make yourself, but if you’d like mine you can download them below. I cut them to 6×4, then added a notch in the top to make it easier to find them in the box. You could also add a tab.

>>download season dividers<< This is a zip file, if you are downloading on a phone you will need an app that opens them

Tracker:

I have a coloured, and plain PDF that you can download below. If you’re printing on Letter sized paper you’ll need to fit to page to print.

>> download A4 Colour<<

>> download A4 Plain<<

Thanks for reading! Next up in the series I’ll be talking about photo organisation.