Each scrapbooker has a unique motivation for spending time and money to scrapbook photos.

Here are some common reasons that so many people, around the world, have chosen to create scrapbooks:

1. Showcase your memories. Your children and future generations will appreciate the time you have taken to record the memories you have shared together. What's even better is to include a journal or simple captions next to the photos to record your feelings at the time of the photo, or special details that you wish to remember. Scrapbooking doesn't have to be expensive either. The important thing is to get your photos out of the box and into books where people can see them and enjoy them.

2. Record your memories. When we don't scrapbook, we may forget some of the most significant and poignant details of our lives. But when you scrapbook, you make it possible to remember details about every event or scene in your life that you have scrapbooked.

3. Organize your photos and mementoes. Disciplined scrapbookers have their personal memories, mementoes, and photos organized in a way that will preserve their quality. Imagine how just a bit of water (from a leaky ceiling, for example) could damage your precious memories beyond repair. Storing your photos in acidic envelopes or boxes can damage their quality, as well. The safest place for these precious items is in an acid-free box or scrapbook.

4. Record the "firsts." If you have a baby or small child, you know how quickly the time (and all the various milestones) speed by. And you know the importance of recording your child's first laugh, first tooth, and beyond that, to the first date, the first car, and on it goes.

5. Business portfolios. Scrapbooking is not just about making books of personal photos. A scrapbook can be a collection of items that are important to you and to your work. If you are in the field of graphic design, interior design, or photography, you may want to create a scrapbook so that you can present samples of your work when necessary. Hairstylists may create scrapbooks of haircuts and hairstyles that they have created. With simple scrapbooking skills, you can showcase your best work in an easy-to-navigate way.

Scrapbooking regularly will remind you of each of these important reasons to record your precious memories, as you see your past linking with your future, and you have documented your life in a way that will be embraced by generations to come.