Catching Up On Project Life

Earlier this week I posted the image above on my facebook page with the following message:

"Lots of holes to fill in #projectlife. Only 3 weeks behind."

I found that lots of you are in a similar place and many others are trucking right along.

As of this moment I'm still three weeks behind as this week proved to be a crazy combination of other projects being due, middle school tours, meetings, taxes and other stuff of life that kept getting in the way (you know, sleeping, eating, etc).

I loved this comment from Kelly Libby and totally thought it was worth posting:

"My new plan for Project life is to "not fall behind". If I miss a week, then I miss a week. If I miss 2 weeks, then I miss two weeks and just start up again when I can in the week I am in. A week here. A week there. Vacations in the mix. I'd rather document this way than feel SO much pressure to keep up AND be creative."

Even though I still want to approach mine weekly and will be taking time this weekend when the kids are with Chris to play catch-up, I think this is such an awesome freeing approach and totally makes sense for so many people.

Do you have a strategy for catching up?

I've got a few things stuck in pockets. My plan of attack is to open Aperture (my photo management program) and start printing photos. I may add more text directly to photos for these last couple of weeks as that's an easy way to get the story down. Planning to share updates next week.

Can you believe we are already 1/2 way through March?

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84 thoughts

  1. Kathleen M Smith says…
    03/15/2013

    I am 62. So let me add a little PERSPECTIVE for all the young mothers stressing out. There will always be a new way of memory keeping coming down the pike. Right now I am into PL and I love it. But I can guarantee you, in a few years there will be something else. Maybe even another medium of recording life altogether. (I'm envisioning 3D.) So my advice is to:
    1. take lots of photos
    2. keep them backed up and organized
    3. Journal the wow moments and keep an everyday calendar with notes.
    4. Work on the albums when you have time and it's fun.
    This is a hobby, not a life assignment. It should be fun and rewarding!

    Reply 0 Replies
  2. Sue says…
    03/15/2013

    Such interesting information posted here. Since this is my first year this is all new to me. I quickly realized that I liked the mixed orientation and bought the page protectors to do this.Then, due to the wonder of digital cameras I usually take 2 shots-one in each direction so I have flexibility. I then just add filler cards or whatever else that I want to include and go. I will say the biggest help is to be able to print at home. I am very picky about what I print to help make it cost effective.

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  3. Jenny says…
    03/15/2013

    I have decided to take my PL stuff to my son's soccer practice. The weather is crummy most of the year so I sit in my car anyway...now I have 4 hours each week where I focus on only that. It is kinda tight, but it allows me to get a creative fix while watching my son.

    Reply 2 Replies
    1. Lizzie says…
      03/16/2013

      I take knitting and reading to my son's Tae Kwon Do but I've been known to take Project Life too:). There's a room with tables right outside the gym so I just spread out. It's actually kind of neat how many people are interested to see what I'm doing:)

    2. Kathleen M Smith says…
      03/15/2013

      I love that! I have seen many mom's knitting, crocheting and even hand sewing while the kids were at sports practice. But never scrapbooking!

  4. Kris says…
    03/15/2013

    I love your honesty and openness on this blog -- its truly refreshing.

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  5. J3SS1C4 says…
    03/16/2013

    I love this project, and I'm super keen to keep it to 52 weeks. I know the stuff of life can often interfere with it, but the way I see it, the busy weeks when I don't have time are often the weeks that I'd most love to have recorded because we have so much going on. I'm currently working on week 8 of the project, which is the week I went to Thailand with my family. I'm actually ok being a few weeks behind, because I keep a daily journal anyway, and also write what we do each day on a planner sheet and have the planning done for each spread, so catch up is easy. I say do what feels right for you... There are no rules for this, and I bet it would be quite freeing to miss weeks! My travel week is made up of 2 12x12 photos and a quote, because I know I'll document more elsewhere, and I'm pretty happy with that!

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  6. Sharron Heys says…
    03/16/2013

    I actually don't care that I'm 5 weeks behind for 2013 and I'm 'retrospectively' still completing 2012 (when I do updates for this year!) All good…some weeks are "photo-light", some are "overload-mode". Again, don't care…PL is soooo flexible and easy that it just *fits* with life and my once-weekly (at least!) attempt to keep mine & kidlets "life-record" (alongside my Kikki-k notes) fairly up-to-date. Love/need/want to do this and really like this "no-pressure", individualised approach to memory-keeping. Go with the flow, I say!!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Kirsten Anderson says…
    03/16/2013

    I am caught up, but I started this year late, about six weeks behind and thought about just starting there. But I realized I had all the pictures and stories and (bonus) realized I had two weekends with absolutely nothing planned but the usual cleaning, laundry and such (I know, practically unheard of!). That allowed me to finish off those weeks that were just in bits and pieces. Since then, it's kind of like it's just flowed together really easily. I'm sure I'll fall behind again at some point, but I'm really inspired right now to keep this going.

    Reply 0 Replies
  8. Angela says…
    03/17/2013

    This year I've been ordering prints online because I found that Walgreens just wasn't cutting it in the quality dept! Because of this I can tend to feel behind because I order photos every four weeks (still not sure I like this approach, btw)...but I try to sit down once a week and look over my photos, choose the ones I'd like to print, and get some of my journaling complete while it's still fresh on my mind. I just blogged about this exact thing this week...plus I"m doing a giveaway...check it out!

    http://angelamoore.typepad.com/my_life/2013/03/2013-project-life-weeks-four-seven-images-of-weeks-in-progress.html

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Kristin Kottwitz says…
    03/17/2013

    I actually just started project life two weeks ago. so as of right now I am rather enjoying reading everyone elses. Thanks for all the great ideas.

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. Jen says…
    03/17/2013

    Good post! Right now, I'm about a week behind due to life craziness. I do my PL digitally on StoryBook Creator (from Creative Memories). I type up my notes at the end of each day and either on the weekend after my Daughter goes to bed or on my Girl's Night on Tuesdays, I put the entire thing together.

    I'd love to do PL physically, but right now with a toddler, it's easier to do it digitally. I print them out locally and then put them into a binder and any inserts that I have will already be in the binder.

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  11. tamara Dunkin says…
    03/18/2013

    i never feel "pressured" to get "caught up" on PL. that said, i don't like to skip a week here and there because the weeks i'm usually "behind" are the weeks with specials/extras (visitors, trips, LOTS of photos from special events at school or home, etc.) and those are the things i do NOT want to miss. that said, it's not time-consuming to get "caught up" on PL. i always start with photos. i print the ones i love. then i slip them into the pockets. sometimes i have to add extra pages to include all the photos - it's fine and still easy. after i fill in pockets with photos, i add fillers - note cards for the STORIES that fit the photos. simple "filler" cards, etc. i do tend to be "less creative" when i'm behind, but it all still gets documented and that's what's important to me. additionally, sometimes it takes a few different "sessions" for me to get "caught up." photos selected and printed one day. photos into the pockets another day. journaling/fillers another day (or two or three). i love that PL can be done in little increments (5 minutes, 10 minutes, an hour) here and there. i am fortunate enough to have a table/desk in the main living room so i can work on it a bit and then walk away to do something else but still leave my stuff on my table. but i can guarantee that i will (rather quickly) be "caught up" with my PL album. in reality, however, i could fall two months behind and STILL catch up in a matter of days. THAT'S what i love so much about PL!!!

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