It usually takes me 2-4 hours to write a lengthy content post.
That might sound like a really long time for a 1500+-word post, but when you add in the time to think through the outline, dig up links and resources to use in the post, take pictures for the post, tweak sections after you’ve written it to tighten things up, and get everything formatted correctly, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that great posts just require quite a bit of time to get from idea to published post.
Occasionally, a post that requires extra research or photos or thought will take me over 4 hours. But that is very rare.
I wanted to give you some context for what I’m about to say so that you’d understand how crazy and insane it is… and you’d know that I don’t take reviews lightly. Or, maybe I just need to get a better system for organizing my photos and other memorabilia. {No, on second thought, let’s stick with the I don’t take reviews lightly excuse. :)}
So, are you ready for this?
Writing this post took me 15+ entire HOURS.
Yes, I’m not kidding you. I really did say FIFTEEN. Count ’em. FIFTEEN HOURS.
And I may have wondered if I up and lost my ever-lovin’ mind when I was in the middle of those hours. But I’m here to tell you that I survived and I’m here to say I hope you enjoy this post. 
To be clear, it wasn’t necessarily the writing of the post that took all of that time… though it definitely did take some time and effort to research Legacybox, take pictures for the post, and type out everything I wanted to say about my experience.
{Silas with me at my sister’s wedding. I’m not sure what’s going on with my hair there. I asked for an updo from the hairstylist who did hair at the wedding and she gave me some sort of updo for sure! But I had to share this picture because Silas was so teeny-tiny and it melts my heart!}
What took me forever and a day was that part of writing this post involved going through 4 TUBS of pictures and letters and memorabilia from 34 years of my life and then deciding which items I wanted to send off to Legacybox to digitally preserve.
People, that’s like trying to decide which kids are your favorite. It’s near impossible!
And not only did I have to decide on which pictures and videos I wanted to have preserved, but I had to look through all of the photos and letters and memorabilia in order to make those crazy tough decisions.
Being the highly-distractible person that I am, this was no small task. Because pretty much every photo and letter and piece of paper in those tubs holds special memories for me.
When the Legacybox Kit arrived in the mail a few weeks ago, I naively thought I could go through the memorabilia tubs in about an hour. Jesse pulled them out of the attic and I opened the lid of one and started in.
{My family — rocking our matching, homemade dresses that my mom sewed for us. This was when there were only 5 kids!}
4 hours later, our entire bedroom was strewn with piles of papers and photos and photo books… even a little baggie of hair from Kaitlynn’s first hair cut.
It looked like a disaster, but clutter-hating me didn’t really even seem to notice because there I sat, completely engrossed in reading letters Jesse and I had written to each other before we were married when he was away at college in Virginia. I kept finding another letter or another photo or another piece of our history that I needed to share with Jesse.
Pretty soon, he was up there next to me and we were reminiscing on so many different memories and special times from our past.
All of a sudden, half the day had past and I realized, “Oh my goodness! I’ve not even gotten through two tubs yet! I still have two more to go and I don’t have a CLUE how I’m going to narrow down the photos I want digitally preserved!!”
{Be still my heart! That’s Kathrynne and Kaitlynn in my sister’s wedding.}
It took me two more afternoons to get through the rest of the tubs and then two more hours to go through the photos I’d narrowed things down to. I felt like I had just run a marathon when I finally shipped off the Legacybox. But it felt SO good!
I was thrilled with the finished product and getting all of these really special pictures and videos digitally preserved — not only for my own sake, but so I can share them with my kids and their kids and maybe even my great-grandkids someday!
How Legacybox Works
Legacybox is a company dedicated to helping you preserve any format of outdated memories in a digital format. They can preserve many different kinds of media — photos, VHS tapes, DVDs, even Super 8 film!
1. Sign up to get a kit in the mail. Depending upon how many memories you want to preserve, you can choose the kit that is best for you. They offer four different kit options.
2. Legacybox will send you a kit that includes a welcome guide, a pre-paid FedEx shipping label, individual item barcodes, a crush proof box, and a personal concierge so you can talk to an expert any time if you have questions while you’re collecting items for your box.
3. Fill up your box with your items you want preserved. They can digitally preserve almost everything — tapes, film, photos, negatives, or audio. fill it with any formats in your collection, then send it back in the box it came in with the pre-paid label.
Note: One thing that I missed somehow was that you are supposed to save the outer box that the Legacybox comes in to stick the Legacybox in and mail back. I almost didn’t catch this before I had tossed that box and it would have been bad because the Legacybox fits perfectly into that box and that’s how it guarantees that your special items aren’t crushed in the shipment.
4. In a few weeks, you’ll receive your originals back along with archival DVDs (or an optional thumb drive), digital files ready to share and enjoy, plus the Legacybox for storage. Barcoding with online order tracking ensures your memories stay safe throughout the whole process.
{My dad’s parents meeting Kathrynne for the first time — their first great grandchild. They were SO excited to finally have a great grandchild as they’d been hoping and waiting to have one for a long time. My grandma didn’t live much longer after this and my grandpa is no longer alive, either, so this is a very special photo for me.}
{Our family Christmas card a few years back. Oh, the kids look so little there!}
Pros to Legacybox
You never have to leave your house! If the thought of finding a local place (or a techie friend) to do this for you feels a little daunting, they save you having to worry about making phone calls or online research to find a company to preserve your memories.
This would make a cool and unique gift idea. I am thinking it would be fun to give to a relative or friend who had a lot of memories to preserve or for someone who had lost a loved one.
It’s so simple… well, not the part of going through all the memories and photos! 
But the part of actually sending things off to Legacybox? It’s a cinch! You just put your items in baggies with identification stickers on them, pop them in the Legacybox kit, put it back in the mailer box it came from, attach the pre-paid label, and drop it off at a FedEx store. Boom, done.
Cons to Legacybox
You could do it yourself. While some of the older VHS, film, and audio might be hard to professionally preserve yourself, other things — like photos — would be fairly simple to scan and preserve onto a DVD or thumb drive.
It’s expensive. $75 to $500 for preserving your memories is a lot of money. But it’s also one of those things that could be a priceless sort of investment. Many of the photos and VHS tapes I dug up were ones I would never want to lose… and ones I want to share with our kids and grandkids.
Get 40% Off Your Legacybox!
Can’t justify the price of Legacybox but really want to try it out? I’ve got a deal for you (of course!). Legacybox is offering a 40% off coupon code to the first 25 readers who order a Legacybox. Just use coupon code MONEY at checkout to get a 40% discount! That makes it much more affordable — especially since Legacybox includes shipping, too! Go here to get started.
(Note: This post was underwritten by Legacybox. Read our disclosure policy here.)
