Have you ever had a random moment when you’re watching your favorite show, or casually scrolling through your phone, then all of a sudden you remember that letter your childhood best friend gave you? Or that paper ticket from your first ever visit to your favorite amusement park or memorable movie date with your friends!

  And you sit there and think, wherein this house did I keep those things? Then you rumble to your closet and shelves and find that movie ticket starting to fade. We all have precious archives that we can’t let go of. Simply because they hold a significant memory that reminds us of the good times.

  Instead of choosing which one’s to keep and throw away, there are creative and organised ways to better store your precious memories. Here are some of which you can start and do now.

1. Have them organised in a photo book

 One of the ways to systematically store your paper archives is through photo books. If you want to go extra, you can choose to bring them to a professional photo printing shop for personalised and printed photo book covers.

  You don’t necessarily have to spend too much money on this or have it designed in a photo printing shop. You can simply start by buying any photo album that matches your planned theme in mind. From there, organise each paper archive by the following categories:

When did it happen?

  Is this the ticket from your first-ever trip to Disneyland with your childhood friends? Or is this from your first family vacation? Categorise them by date for easier timeline references.

Who were you with?

 Every memory spent with certain people is special in its own way. You might want to label and segregate each paper archive by whom you were with during that time. It would be fun to add some printed photos too if you have one.

Have a separate photo book as per your categories

Create a separate photo book or paper archive for the ones you had with your friends and family. You can put some short and fun backstory about that one moment with your best friends. Or put a short note on that precious Christmas tag that your parents gifted you when you were 10.

After labeling your archives, start to put them in the photo album. Don’t forget to be creative and express your feelings towards those memories the way you want to. Photobook archives will help you to easily look back and reminisce on those moments. There’s no need to throw them away now with this.

2. Have them laminated and styled in photo cards

   If you want to keep only a certain paper archive, you can opt for lamination. Lamination preserves the paper from fading and tearing. May it be gift tags, receipts, paper bracelet tickets, plane boarding passes, or your favorite candy wrapper, who’s to judge?

 You can then use your paper archives as bookmarks, or have them decorated on your work table. You can also have your laminations stored in an ‘archive box’ or jar along with your favorite childhood scrunchy, bracelet, or watch. This way, you won’t have to worry about your preserved candy wrapper or treasured letter tearing or accidentally be thrown away.

3. Have them scanned and make a digital copy storage

  Mostly, everything these days is done digitally. It would be such a waste of resources if we are to disregard and not make the most out of it. To assure that important family documents are not only kept but also secure, make a digital copy of each of them.

   If you feel like scanning will take you too much time or if you don’t have a scanner at home, bring them to photo printing or film processing shops. This way you can tell them how you’d want each paper archive to be scanned. You can also scan all tickets or boarding passes together in one go for an easier and more convenient copy.

 Digital copy storage will give you peace of mind. If by any misfortune and you can’t find that important document anymore, at least you have an accessible digital copy. The great thing is you can have the scanned file printed anytime if you want a hard copy just in case.

4. Have them collaged and framed

     If you want all of your paper archives to be displayed and used as decor in your house, it would be nice to have them collaged. Unique and various paper archives in a collage are a creative way of preservation. Plus, it would look nice and seem more like artwork.

 Professional photo printing shops offer numerous services for framings. You can choose from different types of frames to use. If you plan to hang the collaged frame on a colored wall, you might want to go for an acrylic frame. This type of frame would make your paper archives stand out and blend with the wall.

You can also never go wrong with a classic white background frame. Discuss with the photo printing shop how you’d like to creatively style and place those archives to make them look lively and eye-catching. Collaged and framed paper archives will surely leave an impression every time your guests see that piece in your home!

5. Lastly, just creatively store it the way you want to

   All of the suggested ways will help preserve your memorable experiences and make you look back with a satisfied heart. Regardless of how you store it, just make sure that each paper archive will be kept in the best condition. Who knows, maybe you can share their stories in the future with your family while reminiscing about the good old days.

Comment down below for your suggestions on how we can better and creatively preserve paper archives!

About the author:

Bianca Banda is a writer for DS Colour Labs Ltd (DSCL), a professional photography lab that offers a vast range of products and services to aid every photographer’s need. She is a massive lover of Japanese cuisine and enjoys binge-watching comedies or variety shows.