Talk to me about PL/Documenting Everyday Life

I have a bullet journal where I write a little bit about each day. I really think it helps remember the little things. I also jot down quotes of funny things my kids say in my phone.

Take notes would be my number one. It's amazing how quickly I forget the little stuff. I keep a word document on computer one for each month and jot down a few sentences pretty much ever day or every other day and call it good. Then I have that to go back too, even if I'm behind. I still have to do August, part of September, November and December for 2020. Having those notes takes the pressure off. I know I can go back to it when I'm ready.

I snap photos of my favorite things, what make-up I'm using, current clothing loves, favorite face masks, etc because it's fun to go back and see how that stuff changes over time. I take screen shots of tons of stuff like memes, audio books and podcasts I'm listening too, text message conversations, even pictures of my in-box and will fill in with those little life details, especially on weeks when I'm short on pictures.

You definitely don't need "all the things", just buy what you love and make sure to use when it's still new. Keep the project fun and don't worry about it too much. Your future self will be grateful whatever you document. If you skip some weeks or photos, totally fine. If I never go back and fill in my 2020 missing weeks, I'm still happy with what all I did document.

I don't do PL/pocket scrapping - I'm an 8.5x11 family album kinda gal - but I scrap plenty of everyday moments, probably more than I do events/trips.

Key for me is taking the photos - of the cats, of the kids doing ordinary things (homework, board games, video games, shooting hoops, making dinner), family stuff (games, movie night, goofing around)...I struggle a bit more with DH and me but I've been trying to take some selfies and have the kids take some pictures of me/us. Sometimes the picture tells the story, sometimes the photo is just a random picture of the cat/person that I want to tell the story about...

Did you ever think we’d replace all those devices with one small device?
Mini Recorder, camera, phone, pager, radio, palm pilot all in one

I have started this year, I tried once before in 2013 but it just didn't work out for me then and I abandoned ship.

I am not as organised as what everyone else seems to be but what is so far working for me is putting all the photos and screenshots that I want to use into its own folder in my photos, I have selphy and then edit and print all in the one go. I am also being more mindful to take more photos, I can go weeks and not take one photo so I am being more proactive in the respect. I have been working on a whole week over the weekends whenever I have some spare time.

I've done both weekly and monthly and in both cases I find having notes makes all the difference for my journaling. I keep a word doc that I update when I think of it, although I try to do it at least once a week, often just bullet points. I have photos for some of those events, but don't for others and I like that between the words and the photos I get a fuller version of my month.

It sounds like you might have the opposite problem than I do - these kinds of projects take me a long time because I take too many photos. Choosing, editing, printing/putting into computer folders takes a lot of time and energy, especially working at the end of a month. I take between 200 and 500 pictures a month so I give myself a headache choosing.

I would suggest reviewing/flagging/selecting your photos weekly even if you plan to create the pages monthly. That might also make it clear that you haven't taken enough photos and you can do better the next week or take "faked" photos to fill in the gaps (taking a photo for one story on a different day you do the same thing, or recreating/staging it). It's also OK not to have photos - ephemera or a drawing or word art works too, depending on your style.

I would also suggest that when you do take photos to try to take both portrait and landscape versions so you have more options for cropping. Taking photos based on prompts might help fill some gaps too - you could make up your own prompt list, especially if you know some of the things coming ahead in the month.

Shimelle showed her printing plan using Photos on a MacBook, but I think the same thing would work for a PC. Basically she created folders based on what size she wanted to print - 4x6 landscape, 3x4 portrait, etc. She just dragged the photos she'd chosen into each folder so she could batch print. I've also seen people set up folders for each week or month, some photo programs can create the folders automatically, which saves a bit of time and effort.

I found it a lot easier to standardize and print everything the same size (or 2 sizes) so I didn't have to make a decision each time, even when I was doing non-pocket page documenting.

The last couple of years my plan was to do a highlight or story each week. Just pick one good thing. Of course some weeks there were more, some less, but on average that will yield 52 good things, which is pretty awesome.