Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

A big milestone: A million page views!

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I find it hard to believe, but this humble blog has reached what feels to me like a great big milestone. Over the weekend, the number of all-time page views surpassed 1,000,000. Over a million hits since the blog began on June 14, 2022. Amazing. (I took the screenshot at left at 5:54 pm on September 30, 2023.)

I am so grateful to OYFH readers who are so so supportive and so engaged. I’m thrilled that the stats reveal there have been almost 6500 comments in that time!

After 813 posts, it’s safe to say it’s getting a little harder to come up with fresh ideas. So please feel free to let me know in the comments if you have any topics you’d like me to cover on the blog.

Thank you so much for helping me get here!

My New Thing: Peace of Mind Budgeting

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I have not been doing a lot of blogging or  genealogy research in recent months, because I’ve started a new adventure. In March, I completed a training program to become a YNAB Certified Budgeting Coach. YNAB (aka You Need A Budget) is a budgeting method and app that helps people get control of their spending (and saving). I started using it in 2018 and it changed my life. Ever since, I’ve been promoting it to everyone I know and I jumped at the chance to take training so that I could add budget coaching to the service offerings of my organizing business, Peace of Mind Organizing®.

The relationship of budget coaching to genealogy is only tangential (it’s a great idea to budget for your genealogy expenses), but I mention it here because I wanted my readers to know what was going on with me.

I just debuted my website Peace of Mind Budgeting last. Please check it out if you’re interesting in learning my budgeting coaching services and reading my budgeting blog. Or you can go straight to the YNAB website to learn about it and sign up for a free trial. (That’s a referral link…if you click it and ending up subscribing to YNAB–it’s $99 a year when paid annually–we each get an extra month added to our subscriptions.)

Why do I love YNAB so much? It has allowed me to:

  • Get out and stay out of credit card debt
  • Building healthy savings
  • Welcome my husband’s recent retirement without freaking out about money
  • Live without financial stress, because I am in control of my finances
  • Handle my elderly aunt’s and, before he passed away, my father’s finances with ease

Just in case you’re interested in my budget coaching services, I wanted to let you know that I’m offering a discount while I get my feet wet. The first six budgeting clients who sign up for one of my packages will receive a substantial discount. I created a special coupon code for OYFH readers: OYFH. Use that code when you book a package to take advantage of it. If you get the message “Sorry, this coupon code is not valid” you’ll know that all those spots have been sold.

I started Organize Your Family History ten years ago this month (can you believe it?). And it’s not going anywhere. But since I’ll be spending so much time with Peace of Mind Budgeting, my blogging schedule here will be reduced to once a week. And I’ll be re-running some good posts from the past, along with creating new content.

Thanks for letting me share my news!

NARA’s Genealogy Series starts May 3

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In 2021, the National Archives transformed its annual one-day virtual Genealogy Fair into a multi-week Genealogy Series. The theme of this year’s series of lectures is is Public Service: Military & Civilian.

There will be one lecture each Wednesday from May 3 to June 14 (six Wednesdays), from 1 to 2 pm. No registration is required; you can watch live and ask questions of the presenter at the NARA YouTube channel. (You can also watch later without the opportunity to ask questions.)

Visit the NARA website to see the program and details about each talk. The page also includes links to the talks and handouts, available on the each event day (and after). According to the website, “You are invited to attend, participate, and ask questions during our sessions’ YouTube video premieres. Presentations are pre-recorded videos broadcast on NARA’s YouTube channel. Throughout the broadcast, you will be able to ask questions, and the presenter will respond in real time. After the initial showing, the video and handouts will remain available on this web page and YouTube.”

I’m excited about this free learning opportunity and I want to thank reader Marian Kowalski for telling me about this year’s program. It had escaped my notice!

The rejuvenating effect of switching my research focus

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I’ve been researching my family pretty seriously for more than a dozen years. My progress has been slow and careful and the excitement of beginning that research is a dim memory. If I’m being honest, I’ve been less motivated about my genealogy research over the last year or so; that’s because of other pressures in my life but also because the research may have become a little stale.

This month I decided to research my husband’s family, for the first time. It started over an idle question about what year they were married, since I’m privileged to wear my mother-in-law’s engagement ring.  I did a quick search and came up with two wedding dates. It turns out both dates were right–they were married secretly out of state at the age 17 (they lied and said they were 21!) and then again a year later in an official ceremony, something that is part of family lore. Just finding those dates was a thrill and it was so fun to share what I’d learned with my husband, Barry.

So I’m off to the races with a new family. I’m sure I’ll get back to my familiar ancestors before too long, but in the interim it’s fun to relive the thrill of discovery with something new. If you’re getting bored with your research, you might try picking a new branch of your family or researching the family of a spouses or friend!

 

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

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When you first join the list, I’ll send you a few emails to help you organize your family history. After that you’ll hear from me at the end of every month when I send an email with links to that month’s posts. And every now and then, I’ll let you know when I have something special to promote.