Imagine this; the year is 2051, your children say to you “I wonder what it was like to live through a pandemic.” You think back and try to imagine your years at BUas, all isolated in your room, but then you remember you made a scrapbook that year! This year is the year to start keeping up a scrapbook. A scrapbook is a collection of pictures, receipts, cut-outs, and really whatever you want to include. If you keep up with collecting memories, you will have a beautiful collection of what your 2021 was like. In this article, I will give some tips and tricks on how to start and keep up with a scrapbook.

Materials

For starters, you will need a book. Preferably one with sturdy pages and one that has a way of keeping it shut, such as a string on the side to tie the front and back cover together. Your book will probably become very thick and you want to prevent any pictures from falling out. I have an example here. Another item you might want to have before beginning on your scrapbook is to have some paper with designs for a background. You can buy this at any hobby store, or you can use old magazines. Things such as washi tape, glue sticks, and scissors are rather essential as well when it comes to scrapbooking. If you really want to make those pages fun add some stickers as well.

Content

Your scrapbook can be whatever you want it to be, but here is what I suggest. You can scrapbook every month and devote however many pages you deem necessary for that month. Per month you write down pieces of text of memorable moments, how you were feeling, things that made you laugh and made you feel grateful. You can write down where you are at that moment in time, such as relationship status, school status, or your work status.

Having tangible pictures is a special thing to have nowadays because we do everything on our phones. You can print out photos at stores such as Hema for around 25 cents a picture. If you have a printer at home it might be a good idea to buy photo print paper, so you can print out your own pictures (make sure you get the right kind for your printer!). The pictures don’t have to be special either. It can be of a walk you went on with a friend, a cake you baked, or a sunset you watched. In a few years, these mundane things will be just as interesting to look at as exciting trips (which we, of course, can’t go on right now). Besides pictures, you can put many more things in your scrapbook. Think of receipts, maps, and birthday cards.

Keeping up the habit

Starting such a book can seem daunting. It looks like a lot of work and effort, but it doesn’t have to be. You can take one day out of your month to put together your pictures and write down the memories. What I like to do is to keep a separate album on my phone to store all the pictures I want to print out. I also keep memorable moments stored in my notes app. Remember that you are doing this for yourself, it shouldn’t feel like an assignment.

By the end of the year, you will have a collection of moments that you would otherwise have forgotten. In a few years time it will be wonderful to look back at your time in university and see how you have changed and grown. Maybe you will even keep it up for many years!