Memory-keeping for the non-scrapbooker

I have long since learned that scrapbooking, like with actual paper and glue and all that jazz, is not my forte. Like... at all. I have tried and failed many times in my attempts to become a scrapbooker. It takes too long, it's messy, and can be really expensive.

However, I love pictures. If you know me at all, you know that I take pictures of everything, all day erryday. Now that is my forte. But I don't want my pictures to be stuck on my computer or in my phone. I may have grown up in the digital age, but there is just something about actual printed photos that you can't replicate on a screen.

I'm a pretty busy person, but I've found a good system for memory-keeping and I thought I'd share it with you. A key factor in my success as been my iPhone. It has helped me become so much better at taking frequent pictures and recording memories, especially with the Project Life and Chatbooks apps.

I love Project Life because of how easy it is to make scrapbook pages with lots of pictures. I almost always have my phone on me so I can whip up a page any time I have a spare minute. Since I have a Macbook it's even easier because I can access recent photos taken with my DSLR through the photo stream on my iPhone. Pretty snazzy!

Here are a few examples of pages I've made:

Shutterfly often has free 20-page 8x8 photo book promotions, so once I have enough to fill one up that's how I plan on getting my Project Life pictures printed. Easy peasy!

Chatbooks is another app I've fallen in love with. It automatically uploads pictures and captions from your Instagram account and makes them into little books, which are only $6 (including shipping) for each edition. I'm currently on the one book per month subscription, but I've been wanting to switch to five per month so I can get caught up faster. It's going to take a few books, to say the least, to get the many pictures I take printed. ;)

In addition to Project Life and Chatbooks, I also keep an eye out for the 101 free prints promo that Shutterfly has every few months. They serendipitously happen to have one going on today through Monday with the code FREE4ME (Tip: Shipping is a bit cheaper if you order 99 prints instead of the 101 they advertise). I just slip them into a big photo album (I think this one was around $12 at Ross and holds a million pictures) and also hang them on the clotheslines I have in our dining room and nursery.

Have you tried either of these apps? What do you with your pictures? Any great memory-keeping tips I should know about?