I never thought fire would burn Altadena and shake Pasadena, the communities where I spent life-shaping years.
But the fire burned through 9,400 structures while across LA County the Pacific Palisades was also burning.
A mailman told a friend of mine that 60% of mailing addresses in Altadena are gone.
Families had to leave quickly to escape the destruction that turned long-loved homes to ash. Not everyone could take all of their most treasured photos, videos, or other important memories that tell the stories of their families.
Those memories are the heart of what makes a home special.
Imagine if a disaster strikes or your home is damaged and you don’t have to worry at all about your memories because you know they’re completely safe and secure.
I’m a photo coach and I know you’ll benefit from the best way to safeguard your most meaningful memories.
Read on and invest in your peace of mind.
What makes a home
We know that a home is more than a building. It’s a place filled with memories like the photos on walls, refrigerators, and desks.
These show what’s important to us and the growth and changes families will experience.
How do you protect your memories so you can enjoy them and pass them along to future generations?
The solution I use is FOREVER®, a cloud-based memory storage system that gives you complete control.
Why I help others safeguard memories
Your family’s story is unique.
Connecting the past to the present and saving the stories for the future is important and benefits everyone’s well-being.
As a child, I liked looking through old family photos and imagining the stories of the people I knew or didn’t know.
As a photo coach, it’s satisfying to help families achieve peace of mind, knowing that they can bring all of their memories into one safe and secure place.
You can digitize old home movies like I did with my father.
Here are the other items you can protect using FOREVER®:
- Photos
- Slide shows
- Audio cassettes
- VHS tapes
- Handwritten letters
- Documents and certificates
Here’s how:
1 Keep digital clutter on your phone to a minimum.
After you take photos or videos using your phone upload them to your account using the FOREVER® app. Once the files are in your account, you can safely delete them off your phone reduce and manage your digital clutter.
2 Digitize older media files to preserve and protect them.
FOREVER®’s digitization service is located just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin. This is an important first step in protecting your files, but it’s not the only step. You’ll want to store them safely and securely.
If you keep photos, videos, and documents on flash drives, external hard drives, or laptops those devices can get misplaced, damaged, and even stolen.
It’s happened to people I know, including a friend of mine. She had her laptop and flash drive with photos on her kitchen table and left the house for about 20 minutes to pick up her child after school. When she returned home, her devices had been stolen.
3 Store your files in your FOREVER® account that you own.
You have benefits as an owner of your digital albums.
Your files are guaranteed safe for a lifetime, plus 100 years with the goal of having them safe and secure beyond that time frame.
You have control over who sees your content and has access to them, even after you pass.
This is permanent storage and FOREVER® is a wonderful way to print photo books and other gifts from your digital files.
You’re able to create digital albums for specific family members like your kids or have places where you keep clippings of projects like researching your family’s history.
Let’s make it work for you.
Create and follow a simple 3-step system:
1 upload your newest photos and videos as you take them
2 digitize older files to declutter and preserve
3 store them safely so they’re organized
You and your loved ones can easily access many years of memories while keeping them safe from disasters, theft, or damage.
Get a safeguard boost
Can I help you protect and preserve your memories?
See my best practices for safeguarding your memories in action and learn from others.
Visit my Events page for the latest interactive group workshops.
Contact me if you have questions on how I help families protect their most meaningful memories.
I’m approaching my 30th year in business as a photo coach and would enjoy sharing what works to save you time, money, and give you a proven memory-keeping solution.
Did you know you can use FOREVER® for researching your family tree?
It’s a great tool for the beginning or experienced genealogist.
Click on any of these blog post titles to take a closer look:
Giving Family Research as a Gift
5 Reasons to Use FOREVER® for Family Research and Photo Storage