Organizing Scrapbook Albums : An Update

I totally agree: Organizing is so personal (we remember, recall, and reconstruct so differently from person to person).
Here's the scheme I'm using -- for the moment. I always feel the need to revisit the categories and adjust every couple of years...
1. Duncan - his stories (Chronological)
2. Duncan's School Experiences (Chronological)
3. Family (Chronological)
4. Family Art(Chronological)
5. Me (illustrated stories + art journal)
6. Erik (my hubby) - his stories.
7. Travel/Favorite Landscapes
8. Artifacts + stories (don't even know what to call this)
Side note: I create digital, hybrid, and traditional stories. And, on a rare occasion, I'll create a duplicate page. However, most of the time, I don't. I think this might just be because my categories have pretty distinct boundaries for the way I think about my/our stories. However, I'm always reusing photos for my stories/art -- this is a result of the duplicitous nature/function of the photo, I think.

Ali-
Thanks for explaining your system! I have 8 year old twins and over the year I have really simplified what I do. So...
1) Each has their own personal album, the BH school kit and a Sports album. In their personal album, I try to scrap something quarterly, if nothing has been going on. Each year I summarize their birthday, Christmas and any other events, tonsil removal, etc. In their Sports album, I try to hit every season because they love to go back and talk about their accomplishments. The school album is a once a year 4 page layout.
2) We have a quarterly Family Album, where once a quarter I scrapbook the season and hit allof the highlights
3) We have a Vacation Album, where I will scrapbook what vacations we have done. It may be one per year or 3 or 4.
4) Lastly, I complete a year end family book, usually 8 x 8. This year it is the 365 album. This usually summarizes the whole year and hits the major highlights.
I have found that this system allows me to stay organized and not overwhelmed with the pressure to scrapbook. I can scrap as much or as little as I want.
My kids are at the age where they love to go back and see what they were like as babies and those early years. So worth all my efforts to here them talk about what they see!
Have a great weekend!

I make 12x12 scrapbooks for each daughter (I have 2 girls) and I don't really have them put away in albums yet, but when I do, I will try to do it by year as much as I can remember or if pages are dated . I have pages about michael and I, our dog, pages about me all in one. I then have a SISTERS album of pages of my girls or our family all together. I haven't really done anything outside of those!
tara

I have two kids and am just going to let them have a big fight after I die over who gets the family scrapbooks. Each has a baby book and a school book of his own while the yearly books are about our entire family. Not doing multiple album-who has time?

I only have two children, daughters, so I have put everything into family albums. They can fight over them later! Just kidding...I assume they will share them, one taking them for a while and then the other keeping them. Never considered making two albums or duplicate pages.

Hillary --
I'm so tickled to hear that the family library system is working for you and that you need MORE albums. Keep up the great work!

Ali -- what great comments. I've really enjoyed reading how your blog readers are approaching album organization. This can be such an overwhelming thing. I love teaching Library of Memories at BPS each year -- I'd love you to mention my class at some point. It's such a flexible system and can be adapted to many situations. I replied to Hillary you mentioned it here -- hope that's OK!

I'm so glad to read all the comments on this! I have 2 1/2 yr old twin girls, and I haven't started scrapping a single thing due to deciding this (well, and general procrastination.) I'm concerned that if I don't do exactly the same layout for both of them I'll have to listen to whining later, about whose is better, etc. I love the idea of a first year album for each, but then just family albums from then on - and if they have to fight over them later, so be it!

I enjoyed reading your comments on how you are organizing your pages. Can you tell me what it is you are using to protect and cover up your scrapbooks? I tried searching your site to find it in an older post but couldn't find anything.
Thanks,
Connie

Sure Connie - that is from the Container Store. Here's a link: http://www.containerstore.com/shop/shelvingSale/interMetroreg/components?productId=10010693
The shelf unit is from Costco.

You are always welcome to comment Stacy :). I definitely recommend Library of Memories for anyone interested in learning more about album organization. I know I have referenced it in the past on here and will definitely do it again in the future.

Ali,
I found it after continued searching - Costco and the Container Store. Have a great weekend!

My guess is that they will love and treasure anything you do for them Melissa :).

Ali, great post. I have 3 kids and do simliar to what you say - if there is only one kid in the layout, it goes in their album. If more than one kid is in it, it goes towards whomever the journaling is directed.
As for the family album, I do this craft for me - I love the creative outlet it provides at the same time as I am memory keeping for my family and if there are fights when I am gone over who gets what, that won't be my problem :-)
I do not ever do repeat layouts for the kids - I may do the same basic sketch with different papers, etc,. but if we all go to the pumpkin patch, for example, I select a few photos of just each child and do a page about it for their album. None of the 3 layouts look even remotely the same, not that they would care but because I feel like my creative mojo would be diminished if I kept repeating layouts.

Michaels had a couple on their shelves. The only color available is brown. But this week the albums are 45% off.

Thank you so much for sharing--Ali and all the commenters! I love to hear how people organize b/c it gives me so many ideas and things to think about that I had not thought about before. Thanks for all the inspiration!!
I don't make scrapbook layouts very often (I'm more of a card maker and paper crafter) but each of my two kids has his/her own 12x12 school scrapbook thanks to Becky Higgins' kit. I also have an 8x8 album for each child for Halloween. Each two page spread represents one particular year. We love to look at these albums and can easily see the growth and costume changes from year to year. I'm thinking of doing this same thing (small 8x8 album) as a birthday book for each child.
If I do start making more layouts I like the idea of all the layouts going in the family album so everyone in the family can look at them and then they decide after I'm gone which they want. You never know what "attachment" one particular child will have about a particular layout. If both kids want the same layout they can color copy it or there might be some new even better technology that will help them.

Love your system Ali. I totally remember when you went through the re-organization process.
The yearly albums for Simon, do you place the layout in order of the year you created it or when the photo was taken? Do each of the yearly albums have an opening page?
Thanks so much for bringing this topic up again. I'm in the process of re-organizing myself.

I don't do opening pages. The pages in Simon's album are chronological by the stories documented. Stories from 2009 go in the 2009 album. If I create a page of a story from 2007 today that layout goes in the 2007 album.
I don't scrapbook chronologically, just organize that way. This is one of the big reasons I like the 3-ring binder albums.

PERFECT post for me to read TODAY! This exact thing is on my to do list..."set up memory-keeping system" thanks for the encouragement and IDEAS. Love reading your blog and practical ideas for keeping it simple and realistic. Thanks, Ali!

Thanks for sharing all this! I'm trying to balance what works for me with what I imagine my sons wanting/enjoying (because that's a huge part of what I want to see!). Thanks for the idea of the sports album...I can already see the need for that!
Does the quartly family album and the year end famiy book overlap? Right now those are the two ideas I'm torn between---I want one or the other to just get our photos out and seen by them now. Which one do you like better and how are they different? Thanks!