Bonus post, but no layouts!

I've shared this technique with a couple of people and everyone thinks I should share it more widely, so I decided to throw in an extra post for the week. This is one step in organizing your memories. One thing I do is keep a calendar on the kitchen wall and as events happen, I jot a note on the calendar--vacations, parties, school events, anything that I'll want to remember. But that's just half of it, you also need to keep the bits and pieces that go with those events.

 You've probably noticed that I keep a lot of "ephemera" or memorabilia or, as I call it, scrapbook fodder! How to keep it all straight? I use plastic bins (see example below).

You'll want to get the transparent ones as I'll describe in a bit. So, beginning on January 1st I dedicate one box to the year (and so far I can get an entire year's worth of stuff in one box). As the year progresses, I toss everything in that box--ticket stubs, postcards, even Christmas cards that I want to save. At the end of the year, I put the final items in the box and then top it with the calendar! Because the calendar is on top (and I'm using transparent boxes) I can see at a glance which year is in each box (and I'm about 5 years behind so that's important).

So that's it! Fairly easy and inexpensive but worth the little bit of extra effort!