There was a time when music collection consisted of albums that took up large portions of shelf space. As time went on, albums gave way to cassettes, which gave way to CD’s – fast forward to now playing almost any song you want at the push of a button. Many of us create playlists for everything from going to sleep to working out to roadtrips. But very few of us create yearly playlists for all the new songs discovered that year. Not for the calendar year, but from one birthday to the next. And more of us should. Why? We’re glad you asked.

It’s Easy To Do

With apps like Shazam, you can identify a song on the opening rift and have it added to your playlist before it hits the chorus. And as many of us store our musical choices on the cloud, it’s easy to take your yearly playlist with you from one digital platform to the other. And if for some reason your digital collection proves a bit more demanding, I will remind you that there was a time when people hauled around music that had literal mass, not just the virtual kind.

It’s New to You

Associating a song to the year you heard it is far different than associating it to the year it came out. How many times have you heard a song that you swore was new, only to find out it was over 20 years old? When you look through your playlist for that year it’ll help you remember where you were when you first heard that particular song. And more importantly, it will remind you of who you were.

The Best Soundtrack Ever

Smartphones and social media make the cronnicalling of life via pictures incredibly easy. We even get little reminders to show us the anniversaries of when we took some of our favorite photos. So why not create musical playlists that do the same thing? You’ll look back through pictures of the past with the music you were listening to to accompany those memories. Making them more vibrant and easier to recall. Extensively, we’re talking about the soundtrack to your life.

For more ideas on life hacks like this be sure to visit The Slate blog.