Sep
7

An Easy Way To Get Photos Off Your Phone And Into Books (Hint: It’s An App!)

Inside: An honest Chatbooks review and a code to get your first book free.

A powerful surge of guilt.

That is what I felt every time I saw a coupon for Shutterfly.

I would think of that fancy DSLR I have sitting in my bedroom with photos on the memory card. I’d think about my cell phone with hundreds of photos of my children.

Then I’d think about the folder on my computer with thousands more pictures of my kids. All these beautiful memories.

Photos of children laughing.

Photos of children on vacation.

Photos of our every day moments I’ll want to treasure forever.

I would immediately put “make a photo book” on the to do list and then, after a few weeks, cross it off.

Why?

It takes so flipping long and costs $50 a pop. Or $35 if you have a coupon.

I absolutely love my children and could stare at their faces for days because I’m a sap, but I could not figure out this photo issue. I could not be consistent with uploading photos to Shutterfly then creating a book then paying $50 for it and STILL ending up with hundreds of photos left out simply because there wasn’t room.

It wasn’t like I thought about it all the time, but when I did… I felt guilt and sadness and a little bit of panic at the idea that we might somehow LOSE all these photos.

And then one day I saw it… a super funny video. A video about how we mothers have this problem with printing pictures and we have no time and don’t want to spend a fortune. It was a video for an app called Chatbooks.

This app essentially takes the photos from your social media and photos you take with your phone, and puts them in an album. Once that album hits 60 photos, it’s ready to ship out. You have 3 days to edit, remove, etc. and then you receive your photo book in the mail. And it only costs $8 every time it ships.

Code: Get $10 Credit On Your First Orders with The Code RACHEL10 Here!

What I Love About Chatbooks

The truth is, we now have a big huge pile of our Chatbooks. Every time we get one the whole family (including visitors) flips through them and laughs and smiles. Every time I take a photo on my phone I can give it permission to add or skip that photo. So now I don’t have to come home from vacation and compile photos (or pretend I’m going to) and then make a book. I just add the photos from the trip, edit them, and get the book sent to the door.

For $8.

If you don’t take 60 photos in a month you pay nothing. When you fill up that album you’ll get it shipped out. You can stop any time and there’s no contract. It is seriously a great way to make sure all those photos get off your phone and get put into little albums you can keep forever.

Code: Get Your First Book Free Here!

What is the quality like?

When I shared with some friends about getting Chatbooks the most frequent question that came up was about the quality. This makes sense. We care about our memories.

The books have thick pages and are some type of matte photo paper. While they are not as good of quality as the Shutterfly photo books, they are good quality with the photos as bright as they were on camera. And, if you’re getting photo books for the reason I am, then a bird in the hand is better than one in the bush. It’s better to have the books printed and in my home than hold out for a $50 book I’ll never make.

These books come to me regularly and I love them. The kids love them. And, most importantly, I know that if my computer crashes or my phone dies that all my photos from the last 6 years of motherhood will not be lost!

If you are on the fence about whether you want books delivered automatically or want to spend time crafting your own, get your first book free here. This video is too funny, right?

You are NOT lazy, disorganized, or unmotivated. The fact is, if your home feels chaotic,it’s your systems. With easy efficient systems, habits, and routines you can start to have the home (and home atmosphere) you crave without working yourself into a frenzy.

Take this quiz to see how well your home systems work then get free and easy hacks to help make your home more tidy, peaceful, and organized.

Rachel

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I'm Rachel, mother of 5 young kids living in the Florida panhandle with my Australian husband. I write about family culture, family rhythms and routines, and boundaries in motherhood and life. You can see snippets of my daily life here and visit my shop for baby sleep, organizing, and routine help.

“Nothing was working…”

I just wanted to say thank you for your easy peasy routine for 2 year olds! I day-weaned my 2 year old a month ago and have been trying everything to get him to go down for a nap without the nursing. Nothing was working and I was starting to think he would never have a nap again.

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I just wanted to let you know that your blog and emails have been a tremendous help to me. Your practical, honest, and humble writing is a breath of fresh air!

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I stumbled upon your blog one morning after praying night after night for God to fix my home! I had just had a baby this May 1st and also have a 2 and 4 year old and my home broke out in complete chaos!

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I’m a first time mom to a 15 day old baby girl. I had no idea what I was doing and couldn’t get her to sleep in her crib until I found your blog.

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I tumbled into post partum depression/anxiety and didn’t know what to do anymore. I was a mess, baby girl was a mess and I don’t even know how my husband was dealing with it all…

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Sam M.

“In a few short days…”

I am grateful to have found your blog, as I do a great deal of searching on Pinterest when I am up against a parenting moment that I do not feel qualified to handle.

I will say though that since reading your blog I am really focusing on remembering that every moment is a learning \ experience for my son and I try to take a breath and count to ten. In the few short days that I have been exercising this method I truly have noticed a change for the better in his response to me.

Tami K.

Comments

Tressa Maciag says

I love the idea of this but I’m still wondering how this coincides with getting the photos off of my DSLR??

Reply
- Rachel Norman says
  
  Yes, that is a good point. Does your DSLR have wifi? If you send those photos to your phone they’ll show up on Chatbooks!
  
  Reply
Mari says

Great idea! Do you know if they ship the books internationally?

Reply
- Rachel Norman says
  
  I do not know, Mari, that’s a great question and I’m sure it’s on their FAQ
  
  Reply