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| My three kids and my parents, they have such a wonderful relationship |
My parents would love nothing better than to live on our doorstep. Well, OK, not actually that close but I know they'd love to have us in the same town, just a short walk or drive away and this has never been the case. It has meant that we have to be more intentional in our efforts to see each other regularly, which is a good thing but nothing beats just dropping in for a cuppa most days, without it having to be a big effort.
One of the reasons I started this blog a decade ago was so that my parents and other friends and family who lived away from us would be able to see and read about the kids regularly, so they didn't feel they were missing out, but over the years the kids have appeared less and less on here. Also, I find that people of my parents age tend to like a physical photo, rather than a digital one, so I have created some photo books over the years, but they do cost a bit and feel like a lot of effort if I'm honest.
Introducing Neveo
However, I want to share with you a better way and one that won't break the bank. Even my husband's 94 year old Grandma can enjoy this way of sharing too, without a gadget in sight. Have you heard of the app Neveo? No, well I hadn't either until recently but we've been missing out.
Neveo is a brilliant app you can download (iOS or Android) for free or use directly on your laptop and it makes creating a monthly photo journal super easy. For £9.99 per month (including postage - anywhere in the world) you can upload 50 photos a month and caption them or even write a small essay with each and then on the first day of the next calendar month, your photos and personalised captions will be made into a beautiful photo journal for your loved ones, specifically in our case, the grandparents, to enjoy.
Right now, it sounds a lot like other photo book sites, doesn't it? But it isn't. The beauty of Neveo is that you have the whole month to add your photos and it takes literally minutes. So each time you take a photo you like, you can instantly upload it direct from your phone to the app and it is super quick, I found no lag time at all and I live in an area with rubbish Internet speed, as I'm in the middle of nowhere.
Creating a Monthly Photo Journal
November was the first month I created a journal, so the software was new to me but it is so easy and intuitive, that it only took me about 25/30 minutes in total to upload 46 photos, caption them and move them about to an order I liked. Then I sat back and waited for Neveo to do the hard work of making them into a wonderful personalised keepsake.
If you're the kind of person who takes tons of photos then there is an option for you too as you might want to upgrade to a £14.99 per month (including postage) account, where you can upload 100 photos. I also love the feature where you can add other family members to upload photos too, so if I had a brother or sister who had kids, we could both put our photos in the album and then my parents would have an amazing album with all their grandchildren. That also means you can share the cost with a sibling or multiple siblings even!
The payment is taken monthly but you can cancel anytime without obligation. So if I bought my Mum and Dad a 12 month subscription for Christmas, that would be £89.91for the two of them (as you get three months free with a 12 month subscription) and they could enjoy 12 wonderful personalised journals with photos of all their favourite people.
Printing and Sending the Journal
Once the new month starts you'll be updated by email each step of the way as to what is happening with your journal. So I first received an email to say 'thanks for the photos and they were now laying them out', then another to say 'the journal was now being printed and would be sent within 4 working days' and then the final one to say it was in the post and on its way to me. December started on a Saturday, so it was the Monday I got my first email, then Friday 7th December that I got the one to say it was being posted and Saturday when the actual journal arrived at my house, that's 8 days after the end of November.
Plus Points
- The app is free to download, super simple to use and very quick as well.
- They do the hard work putting the photos in the journal, you don't have to worry about placement and the overall look.
- There are no contracts, or minimum terms, or notice. Just create journals for the time period that suits you and your pocket.
- Your money is refunded on your first journal if you're not 100% happy.
- if you sign up for 12 months you get a 25% discount, that 3 journals free.
Limitations
- There is only the one layout, so if you want a specific look, you can't change it.
- There is a lot of room next to each photo, so if you only put a short caption, there is a lot of white space. I think I'd have liked an A5 option where you just have the images and a small caption, rather than all that space. Maybe it's an option for the future?
My Thoughts
I really love the concept of the monthly journal, it is such a good way of helping long distance family to feel involved in your life. I found the app very easy to use and quick too, in the past when I have created a photo book, its taken me around 2 hours to locate all the perfect photos I wanted to use and then potentially another 2 -3 hours to upload and get it all in order and I have to do that all at the same time. With the Neveo app, I just add photos and caption as I go along and it felt super simple. I also think the price is very reasonable and I like that I can have multiple people uploading to one account and the journal is just automatically sent at the end of the month.
If you fancy having a go yourself, then why not use this referral link (I don't earn anything from it) and get your first journal, full of 50 photos for just 99p. What have you got to lose?
Disclosure: I was given the chance to create my photo journal free of charge and also paid a fee for my time. As always I have been honest in my review and if there was anything that I didn't find very good, I would state so.
