I’ve been a consistent Project Lifer for a while now, and after trying out a bunch of formats and styles, I feel like I’ve found my groove.
That groove involves recording monthly highlights in a 6×8 album. It’s not elaborate or fancy, and I like it that way.
I am rarely ‘up to date’ (though I am a-okay with that, read why here), so it’s important for me to keep a bit of a record for the quotes, details, and ephemera that I want to record formally when I get to it.
My evolving approach to Project Life has been about refining my sense of what details are worth recording, and which ones it’s okay to let go of. It’s taken me a long time to get there, but I’ve finally come to a place of being comfortable in the knowledge that I don’t need to record every single coffee date, every conversation, every outing. That’s just not interesting.
I wan to record what is interesting. The funny things Arty says. The big events. The small adventures. The stories we’re engaging with in books and on TV and how they’re shaping us. The big ideas and plans we’re hatching. And perhaps more importantly than any of those other things, how we’re feeling.
Memories divorced from the feelings that accompany them are pretty meaningless, if you ask me.
So, how do I keep track of all this stuff so it doesn’t get lost between the time it happens and the time I sit down at my desk to get it into my album?
I’ve tried a bunch of ways, and I’m finding that the simplest of all of them is what’s working best for me.
It looks like this:
I use blank note pages in my planner, and whatever pretty stationery I like to add notes, quotes, and other bits and pieces. A monthly heading at the top of each page is the only structure I add.
For a while I was using week to a page diary inserts, and that worked okay for when I was making weekly spreads, but I was finding that a bit restrictive. Some days I just couldn’t fit everything into the little window the planner allotted for that date. This way gives me more room to write lengthy stories and quotes if I want to, or stick in other stuff where it fits. It’s freeing, and I get more down.
I’ve recently found that using rukristin’s currently post-it notes has been extra useful in prompting me to actually write down what I’m watching, reading, thinking, and feeling. They’re rad, and they’re proving to be very important in helping me continue to add these important dimensions to my memory keeping.
The post-it notes are my favourites-of-the-moment, but I also use the currently clear stamps, which have the added excellence of never running out. Ooh, and if you’re a fan of supplies that never run out, you can even get them in digital form, so you can print as many as you want pretty much forever. The yellow ones are my favourites.
There is literally nothing more to my system than that. Which is what makes it work.
How do you keep track of your little details?
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I am a currently a member of rukristin‘s creative team and was given these products for free in order to demonstrate how they can be used. I have chosen to share them here because I have found them to be awesome. To read Mama Finch’s sponsorship policy, click here. If you are interested in partnering with Mama Finch in a giveaway, review, or other sponsored project, you can find out more here.