Quick and Easy Ways to Document Family Memories Without Scrapbooking

Ever feel like you’re failing at documenting your family’s life because you don’t have time and don’t know what to do? Same. My first three kids I made baby books on Shutterfly- my last baby? Nothing! 🙈 Between school drop-offs, snack requests, sports and activities, who has time to cut paper and glue things into a book? Not you, mama. But here’s the good news—you don’t need a scrapbook (or even a fancy memory book) to preserve your family’s best moments. With a few simple, stress-free methods,  you can capture your family’s story in just a few minutes a day! Here are some quick and easy ways to document family memories!

The Monthly Photo Dump Method

Raise your hand if your camera roll is a disaster! 🙋‍♀️

Instead of letting thousands of random photos pile up, try the Monthly Photo Dump Method.

At the end of each month, set aside 10 minutes to create a digital album labeled something like:
📁 Smith Family – January 2025

Scroll through your phone and add your favorite snapshots—messy toddler faces, goofy family selfies, or that perfect sunset from your beach trip.

No need for fancy editing or captions—just save the highlights!

BONUS TIP: Create a shared album where grandparents can see the best moments each month without scrolling through social media.

This system keeps your memories neat, accessible, and ready to relive anytime!

Memory Apps That Do the Work for You

Do you love snapping photos on your phone and recording videos… but hate organizing them?

There’s an app for that 😉

These apps save your photos and memories—with no extra work from you.

Qeepsake: This app texts you questions about your child. You text back, and it saves the answers in a digital journal!

Chatbooks: This app turns your favorite photos into books without you doing anything. My kids LOVE looking at old pictures in our chatbooks! Check them out here!

1 Second Everyday: Record one-second video clips, and the app makes them into a short movie. I love this app, and have used it to make monthly videos. My kids love watching the videos too. It can also turn Live Photos (from iPhone) into a short video. You can also adjust the time if you want longer clips than one second, although you might have to upgrade for that feature! (This is one of my favorite quick and easy ways to document family memories!)

Google Photos & Tinybeans: These apps store and organize your pictures for you.

Once you set them up, these apps work on their own!

The 10-Minute Rule

Saving your family’s best moments doesn’t have to take hours!

The 10-Minute Rule is all about using tiny pockets of time to record memories—without overthinking it. At the end of the day, set a timer for 10 minutes and jot down one thing that made you smile.

Maybe it’s the way your toddler said pasketti instead of spaghetti.

Or how your pre-teen gave you an unexpected hug.

You can type it in your phone’s notes app, scribble it in a planner, or even use a digital assistant like Siri to voice record it. The key? Keep it quick, easy, and stress-free!

Over time, these tiny entries become a beautiful collection of real, everyday moments—no scrapbooking skills required.

One more thing I like to do (when I remember) is at the end of the day I spend a few minutes cleaning up photos- deleting duplicates and screenshots I don’t need. In the photos app I search for the day (ex 3-20) and it will pull up all the photos taken that day on each year. Then I go through and delete any I don’t want or need anymore!

💡 Bonus tip: Set a daily reminder on your phone so you don’t forget.

10 minutes a day adds up to a lifetime of memories!

Someday down the road, you’ll look back and realize the little moments were actually the big ones. And you don’t need a scrapbook to remember them! With just a few minutes a day, you can create a beautiful, effortless record of your family’s life—one that won’t collect dust on a shelf.

So pick one method and start today. Because years from now, when you’re flipping through those digital albums or re-reading those tiny but priceless memories, you’ll be so glad you did.

I hope reading “Quick and Easy Ways to Document Family Memories Without Scrapbooking” has given you some solid ideas! If you’re still looking for a Lehi Family or Newborn Photographer, click here to see my portfolio.