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26,731.
That is the number of photos I have on my phone at this exact moment.
They start the year I got married, 2013, and include every photo I've EVER taken of my 2 precious babies.
They are all PRICELESS to me. And before you ask, I have backed them all up so DON'T PANIC. Before I did though, I had nightmares of my 1 year old throwing my phone in the toilet. As all moms do.
Besides backing them up, I started to think back to my childhood and how everyone had giant musty family photo albums. I even remember finding my grandmother one time in her closet sitting on an actual mountain of photos looking through them all. In this digital age, there's not much of a need to print out photos anymore. Its often easier to pull them up on your phone when you want to reminiscence. Well, thinking I was depriving my children of this fun way to look back at all the activities we have done through the years and moments we didn't want to forget, I started to think of all the part time jobs I could get to afford to print off all 26,731 of them.
A cheaper way:
Enter Chatbooks. You may have seen ads floating around Facebook with these cute little 5x5 books. A perfect size, paperback, and labeled with the month and year.
The thought of SIFTING through thousands and thousands of photos to form one cohesive book for the past 6 years was DAUNTING to say the least.
BUT, Chatbooks made it SO easy.
And BONUS: I can preserve my family's fun memories for ONLY $60 a year. That's only $5 a month, people. + Free Shipping.
Here's how easy it is:
After downloading the Chatbooks app, you can set up your Monthly Mini subscriptions. You can choose from a single color theme (including all white) or a multicolor theme like I did.
One of the nicest things about the monthly minis, is you only have to choose 30 photos. By narrowing it down to 30, you really only have the choice to choose your favorites.
There are only 3 tabs under Monthly Minis, "In Progress, Completed, and Add-Ons (past months and years)".
You can easily scroll for the current year or past years and by clicking the "'+" symbol, you can add your 30 photos.
Choosing the photos:
Chatbooks pulls only the month you've selected to complete from your camera roll. This completely eliminates the sifting. I know for a fact these were all taken in September and they are broken down by the day. You can chose between only looking at photos for the month your working on or looking through every photo in your album, still prioritized by that month, but will also include things like screenshots and excessive duplicates you may have also taken that month.
You also have the option to make each individual photo span the entire page, fit to page, or add a caption (and that includes emojis).
It takes minutes to create an entire months worth of memories and I have serious piece of mind that I'm not just taking countless photos everyday that no one can enjoy. I place my order and I receive them in about a weeks time.
A couple really great features:
You have the option to buy additional copies when you order. This means you can grab a few extra copies for grandparents and friends for only $5. That would make a perfect stocking stuffer!
These books are "paperback" and its already occurred to me that sweet little hands would rip a page or two by accident at some point. Well, all past orders are kept on your account and all you have to do is push the button "buy again" and a new one will be shipped.
The girls have absolutely loved looking through all the Chatbooks we've received so far.
And I'm having the best time going through and completing all past months and years! Not sure where they will all reside right now, but looking forward to them being on display for the kiddos and guests to thumb through.
