Giving up on PL

I was the exact same way!! I tried it a few years ago and it felt like work. It was a struggle to take pictures so frequently because I felt like they were pictures of stupid things just so I can fill the pocket, I always felt behind because I thought PL should be more in the moment type recording, most of my week days are routine and I don't care about scrapbooking that for posterity. Then when I had pictures from weekends or when I did something out of the ordinary....I wanted to make a regular layout not a pocket page. For me, it was a disaster.

PL is just a product line to be used however you wish. I don't know if it makes me more sad or mad when I hear people say they are giving up because they can't take a photo a day and record every detail of their daily lives. Who the heck made that the law of PL land? Scrapbooking is a hobby and there are no rules.

I love the elements of PL but I cannot scrap with pocket pages like that. For years I have been basically scrapping in a PL style on one piece of paper; I think we used to call it colorblocking.

I really dislike the album I did using pocket pages - I could have done a better job just putting the elements on the page instead of trying to make my pics and memorabilia fit in the pockets.

Certainly if you are the type of person who can get it into an album to enjoy by sliding pics into pockets, then it works well for you. But for me, I can do the same thing on a piece of paper.

I use the cards on my regular pages and I use the page protectors once in a while to get some extra photos in between two 12 x 12's. With the name Project Life, I can see why people originally thought they could/should try it like the originators did. Their pages are amazing and they make mundane places and events seem special. When you start doing it yourself, you just might not feel that way. I just couldn't ever relate to taking pictures of a lunch sack or spill on the floor. Just not my thing. I do love many of the card sets, but will probably never use half of them.

By accident I ordered 3-fifty page sets of protectors.  I thought they were the 12 x 12's for one layout.  Nope, they are the pages with 8 slots.  Ugh.  I will never use all of those pages.

I do both. I tend to use pocket pages if I have a ton of pictures to scrap, like a vacation or a big event. Even then I usually have some traditional layouts as well. I can see why some people would like to do the daily/weekly documentation. It would be interesting and fun to look at years later. But if it stops being fun and starts being stressful maybe it's time to re-think it.

Weekly PL is just way too much for me too. I just don't need to have my life that documented! I often do traditional pages using those type of "moment " pictures. I scrap a page with it divided into 4 quarters of two halves, and use just that one picture. Just mix and match it all!

I don't think that it's just "not for me" I love the look of it and I enjoyed doing it for the first three months of the year, but then I got a job supporting adults with disabilities. It really took a lot of energy and time out of me and I got so far behind that it felt hopeless I would ever catch up again. I was doing weekly pages. Maybe someday I will have a year of PL...

me (waving hand wildly).   I tried and tried and tried...its just not for me...so I am throwing in the towel..
(although my daughter loves it and is amazing with it)  Guess who is getting my supplies.

Last year I decided that project life was the perfect solution for me and getting all those photos that I would take with my phone but that were not 12x12 page worthy.
No, nope, not for me. Part of the problem was the sheer amount of editing and organisation it took just to get one page done and then there was the sheer amount of pages, 20 pages over two months that is just way too much album for my liking.

These days I use anything project life or pocket page in conjunction with traditional 12x12 scrapbooking. The cards are perfect for layering or titles and the divided page protectors are great for adding in extra photos from events that I don't want to put on a page.

I can't do it the way it was designed to be used THATS for sure.
However, am really enjoying using the pocket pages to document our trip to Europe and UK earlier this year.

I agree with the whole 'it feels like chronological scrapping and that makes me stressed' issue. The stress I felt from the pressure of chronological scrapping is exactly why I quit scrapping for years, until I found out about 3-ring albums!

I tried in 2012, and only got thru maybe, 3-4 weeks?? I also was less-than-thrilled with the quality of the BH Project Life cards and supplies; the paper was alot flimsier than the double-sided patterned paper I like to use. I tried it again this year with a monthly approach, and again, only got through maybe 2 months before I quit. I just can't scrapbook unless I'm inspired, and I don't think about saving the 'stuff' and memorabilia that other scrappers seem to use in their PL albums... I'm thinking of Ali Edwards-- re: saving the stuff-- or Michelle Wooderson, who does really cute, elaborate spreads. (I also don't feel any burning need to document our 'everyday' lives... that's not why I scrapbook. I scrap to highlight some of my favorite / best photos, and to document the places we travel to, not piles of laundry or my latest trip to the grocery store.)

I've decided I might do some monthly 'wrap-up' type pocketed layouts- sometime- but not on any sort of a schedule, at all. I love the pocket-style page protectors, though-- they really speak to my love of grids and organizing... so, now that I have a huge stockpile of them, I sometimes use them in conjunction with my 'regular' 12x12 spreads by making a 2-page layout with one pocketed page next to a 12x12 page, or adding a 6x12 page protector in between the pages of a 2-page layout. 

I stopped doing PL last Oct after 2 years, I really loved doing it but it became a huge chore as I had no creative time. I got back into creating this past month or so and have actually missed it, but with that said I just did a WITL and while I loved the project, i just do not enjoy pocket pages as much as mini albums or actual layouts. I am glad I did week in the life as it has shown me that PL is not for me.