Hooray! And a Photo Book Review.

I finally have my new computer!  And in the spirit of "My Thrifty Life" it's actually my husband's old computer.  Technically he got the new one.  But this one is still 100x more awesome than my last one was (it hasn't crashed since I started using it, so it's already doing better than my old one).  Also this one came with a two terabyte drive which, along with my external drive, leaves me with THREE!
Think I can fill up three terabytes of space with... stuff!?  I don't know, but I have a whole terabyte devoted to photos now, which is my dream.  I can finally scan in all my old photos and save them online plus make photo books out of them.



Speaking of photo books, I LOVE PHOTO BOOKS.  I'm always lurking on Groupon and Living Social to fins great coupons for new photo books.  So I figured I'd do a quick review of different services I've used.

First up, Shutterfly:
I have used these guys for a ton of things including regular photos (all sizes) and books.  They have decent prices and there's almost always some sort of coupon online if you're willing to search.  There are especially good offers for first time shoppers.
Anyway, are my books:

Click here to view this photo book larger

You'll love award-winning Shutterfly photo books. Start your own today.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

I was extremely happy with them, however I like the simple cloth covers I got at My Publisher better.


Now for My Publisher:
 If you're strictly looking to make a book, I think this is the best place to go to.  They offer you $20 towards your first photo book, which pretty much covers the whole thing (except shipping) if you're OK with the basic options.  I like how the cloth covers look, so those options have always worked well for me.  These books look more professional than Shutterfly's, I think, and if you're going for something  more put together and fancy, I'd say this is the best option.  But both are still great.
Here are my books:
France 2000
Nantucket 2010/2012
Our Fabulous Cruise

One drawback to My Publisher is you have to download their software which can be annoying if your computer is having issues like my old one.

And lastly Picaboo:
 I've only used this once and I'm very happy with the book, however if I was going for a more polished and/or professional look, I don't think this is the right place.  It had a more scrapbook feel, with a lot of cute templates and add-on pictures that worked well for what I wanted, but would be silly with anything serious.  The prices were good (I used a Groupon) and they offer 55% off your first photo book, so that's not too shabby.
This is one of the sites that lets you set up everything online, so that is a plus for folks with slow or crappy computers!  The site is a bit clunky, though.
I'd share the book, but they're not making it very easy.  If I do manage to get a link, I'll post it here.


I've used a few other services but found them to be overpriced and underwhelming.  I did get one giant photo book for my more professional looking photos, but it doesn't have any logo or anything on it and, for the life of me, I can't remember where it came from.  But it's pretty nice.