Your Memories Page – How to Preserve Moments in Your Bullet Journal

Precious Memories

One of the things I love the most about the bullet journal is the ability to keep memories. The mundane little things you do in your day to day tasks make up a lifetime. Being able to look back on that is truly special. And if you’ve read my birthday time capsule post, you know I have a thing for that sort of nostalgia. You can simply rely on your daily note-taking, list-making, and general planning to keep a record of your life. There is, however, another way to capture those little moments that make you happy – keep a memories page.

The Preservation Method

I don’t really know where the memories page started, but I’ve seen several do it, and I just love the concept. The idea is very simple, but the execution very personal.

Essentially, you keep a page or two in your bullet journal where you can jot down the memories in a certain time frame that you want to remember in the future. Almost every version of a memories page I have seen incorporate the page into their monthly spreads. This is what I have done, as well, but that is not the limit! If you want to, you can write a few sweet memories for each day on your daily entry. If you are partial to weekly planning, you can keep an area dedicated to memories from that week. You can even go big and keep a few pages in the back of your bullet journal for any good memories from your time using that particular notebook. That way, you can look back on your very favorite moments all in one location.

You can come up with a million ways to snatch those wonderful little moments from vanishing into the past. Just find a method that works for you and start! Once you create your first page, you will wonder why you hadn’t started sooner.

Express Yourself

The way you preserve your memories is entirely up to you. My only advice – make it memorable! Take some time to put together your memories page. That could mean that you simply pause and write slower for more neat handwriting. You may prefer to doodle out the moments you want to keep. I gave this a try in June with my Staedtler Triplus Fineliners and a few Micron pens.

I began to add more and more Tombow Dual Brush Pens as my memories page evolved. I just love those thick lines and bold color! Plus I can’t get over the way you can blend colors. That makes them excellent for bullet journal doodles and art. Of course, you could just use them for brush lettering your memories!

I definitely have been experimenting with how I do my memories page each month. I played with doodles and brush lettering and all kinds of color, but I personally am not a huge fan of the chaotic patchwork look. But I longed for something more subdued and clean, yet still decorative. That’s when I went ahead and tried a bold new approach for September’s memories page. I wrote all but one memory with my black Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. The little oddball memory got inked with my Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen.

I gotta say, I’m really happy with how the overall look turned out. In the future, I think I will stick to a theme for each memory page to keep things slick. You better believe that my Pentel Aquash Water Brushes are making an appearance to add some watercolor to my Leuchtturm. I’ve been in love with the look lately (as I’m sure you can tell) and I want to immortalize some wonderful memories with that dreamy look.

If you want to add a few photos to your page to really snag some quality memories, then grab the Fujifilm Instax Mini Camera! You can take pictures and print out the image immediately to truly capture the moment. These images are small enough to fit in your journal with no issue, and they are pretty darn cute, too! This is a great camera to bring on vacations, to family events, or just to fun nights with friends. With it, you can have an amazing memories page with only a tiny bit of effort. Just write on the photograph and stick in your bullet journal. Cool, right?

Some Effort Today for Enjoyment Tomorrow

You may think that you don’t have time to work on this page, or you don’t have an exciting enough life to keep a memories page. I say phooey. Your life, as complex, busy, stressed, or boring it may seem right now, is something worth holding onto. And I want to emphasize this for high schoolers, college students, newly engaged or married people, new parents, or anyone in an obviously transitional time.

Seriously – you will never be in this moment again, so why not take the time to capture and preserve it? I can’t tell you how nostalgic I am for my early years in college. It was only four or five years ago, but I have changed so very much. My life, circumstances, relationships, and beliefs have all been effected by the passage of time. I wish I had the foresight to preserve specific moments in my life back when I was in high school.

I urge you to take a few small steps today to give yourself a precious gift tomorrow. Even some plainly written text describing a few key moments in your memories page will go a long way in reminding you of good times with friends, accomplishments, and adventures. So go on, create your memories page! Time’s a ticking, and you want to make sure you have a full book of wonderful warm memories to tickle future you!