Those who have done genealogy

[LauraMoser]

I've wanted to trace mine for years. I plan to get with my grandmother soon to get as much info as possible from her (and I know she has quite a bit!). I'm digging around Rootsweb right now. Has anyone used this site? I've looked at it a few times in the past and the names and info I've found match up with what I can recall hearing from my grandma.

I have a question about organizing all the info though. How the hell do you keep it all organized? So far, each person I'm finding has anywhere from 4-12 kids. HTH do you organize all of that?!? And I'm guessing that how much of each branch you take down is a personal preference? I can see why people draw them out. Till you write down each little branch out in an outline form, you've gotten way far away from your original person!

Any hints/tips for a newbie at genealogy? Thanks!

[sporky]

i bought family tree maker software. you can just plug in names and dates on each persons page with it and it will create all sorts of different types of displays/trees.

[friskypanda]

The LDS software has (or had at least) free software you can download.