This Month’s Tips: Be Frugal, Tag those Heirlooms, Downsize the Basement

By Julia Morse

• Tip 1:  “Frugal Genealogy Power Tips” from Lisa Lisson (of Are You My Cousin), presented in a mini video, https://youtu.be/3DcCtPNmEz0:
  1. Always research with a plan.
  2. Search for ancestors at free online sites.  (See her list of 50 Free Genealogy Research Records and Websites.    MCG also has a list of Favorite Free Family Research Tools.
  3. Watch for free access promos (For example, you can monitor the My Heritage blog, for announcements of free access to certain resources.)
  4. Trade look-ups with others (who may have paid access).

• Tip 2:  Tag your family heirlooms so that others will know the significance of them after you are gone. The Family Curator (Denise May Levenick) provides worksheet forms and suggestions for recording the history of your heirloom histories: 
  • PDF printable worksheet (for hand-written entry)
  • DOC editable worksheet
  • Suggestions for writing your heirloom history

• Tip 3: Practical advice for working through a basement of someone’s “stuff” to archive what is important: “Creating a Family Archive” by Joyce Whiting (18 minute video):