Your memory: use it or lose it

Memory, like muscular strength, requires you to “use it or lose it.” The more you work out your brain, the better you’ll be able to process and remember information. Brain exercises that will improve memory include:

• Novelty and sensory stimulation. If you break your routine in a challenging way, you’re using brain pathways you weren’t using before. This can involve something as simple as brushing your teeth with your nondominant hand, which activates little-used connections on the nondominant side of your brain.
• “Neurobic” exercise is an aerobic exercise for your brain that forces you to use your faculties in unusual ways, like showering and getting dressed with your eyes closed. (See Keep Your Brain Alive Exercises in related links.)
• Learning new skills can be the most effective way to improve memory. Take a course in a subject you don’t know much about, learn a new game of strategy, learn a new language, or cook up some recipes in an unfamiliar cuisine. The key here is to choose something that interests you. The more interested and engaged your brain, the more likely you’ll be to continue learning and the greater the benefits you’ll experience.

So try the above and you might become the family's memory champion.

Source: http://helpguide.org/life/improving_memory.htm