Get round parents, grans, aunts and uncles etc and get down what they know. They will have the knowledge you need to save time when you start trawling the Internet. They may not have accurate info but you'll be surprised what you will pick up. Also there will be birth and death certificates around, these are invaluable to get that start.
Start with a rudimentary chart so you will get an idea of your history.
We used Ancestry.com and found it really useful. They have a very good chart you can use. With the knowledge you've gleaned from relations you'll save lots of time. But don't forget leg work a few weekends round churches and cemeteries can be productive. Enjoy I only hope yours is more exciting than mine. I got back to 1750 on my father's side to find right down the line they were all called Matthew, all stayed in the same village and they all had the same job, carters.
The BBC companion to the Who Do You Think You Are? is very good indeed and is on special offer at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Family-Maker-Deluxe-Version/dp/B003EYVF8K/...

I am just starting out myself doing this, and been greatly helped by a friend who's been researching her history for some time. You do need to pay on a genealogy website to get easy access to detailed information, census records, etc. There is often an online community you can tap into for help. Also very helpful is that you can find other people's trees that have already been done, which link into yours and so get quite a lot of work done for you that way. She has found Ancestry.co.uk the best all-round site and easiest to use. She recommended me to buy 2011 Family Tree Maker Platinum from Amazon which includes six months free membership to Ancestry.co.uk, which works out quite a bit cheaper than just subscribing to it for six months online. I think a lot of people just buy the software for this benefit even if they don't use it to make their tree! But if you only want to use the site for a couple of months it works out cheaper just to subscribe on the website. I haven't actually bought the software myself, though, or subscribed to a site.

My friend did a basic tree for me on Ancestry and I'm currently on a 14 day free trial on Findmypast.com using the info on the tree to search through the 1841 - 1911 census records . They transcribe their census records, as well as having the original version, so it’s very easy to read it, as the original versions with the old handwriting can be hard to make out. My family are going on a trip in a few weeks to the small Buckinghamshire village when a branch of my family lived from 1730 to the 1900’s and I’ve been able to find people’s families, jobs and the streets where they lived using the Census – they were mainly painters and decorators! It does give you a real buzz finding people. For example this morning I’ve just been able to find my mother’s grandmother’s name and where her family came from - this was a great unsolved mystery even a professional genealogist hadn't been able to discover - and was really excited when the names I was looking for came up on the records screen.

You can get a sense of what happened in the space of twenty years, her baker father was out of work, then died, then the mother and elder sister went out to work as charwomen to make ends meet, then when you next find them, their fortunes have improved, in better work and they are taking in boarders. All in about five minutes of clicking!

Wish you all the best with it, Tom. Have found it v engrossing, though quite time-consuming, if you want to look up every relative, as before the age of contraception you can imagine how large the families were!

...I've been doing my family tree for about two years now. I started when my mother asked me to take charge of a suitcase full of photos, certificates and other family stuff. She also had an address book that she had kept during the war and my grandmother's birthday book - these were invaluable so it's worth asking parents and grandparents if they have kept any old address books or similar.

The photos were mostly from my mother's mother's family and they really helped to bring the people to life and remember the relationships between them. If you have family photos you could sit down with older members of the family and ask them to help put names to faces - this can bring out loads of other interesting stories and information. I wish I'd started researching my family tree at your age as there are so many people I should have asked about it who aren't around any more.

I like ancestry.co.uk best as they have a great family tree system and you can see the trees of any other members who have made their trees public. They also have a system where any possible matches for births, marriages and deaths and census entries etc are flagged up for each individual. I find though that it can be misleading to follow these automatically, and the other family trees, as the info can be wrong, so it's best just to use them as a confirmation of research that you've already done yourself. I've seen some very odd trees where the owner has obviously just copied incorrect data into their tree.

I supplement this with membership of findmypast as I have found things on this site which haven't been on ancestry.

It can become an obsession but I can think of worse ways to spend your time and money!

Ruth.

One thing Ancestry don't make obvious is the fact that you only pay for viewing records; building the tree doesn't cost and they won't delete it if you stop subscribing. Plus you can export it to a GEDCOM file which can be imported into most family tree software.

I've used findmypast for the 1911 census. But as Gordon says, start with family members. One memory tends to trigger another so they'll probably go off at tangents. If possible, record the conversation so you don't miss anything. And be prepared for a few "gosh, is that the time?" moments.

findmypast.co.uk for the 1911 census but a lot of information missing there was more accurately recorded by Ancestry. They both use information that is freely available on freebmd and familysearch.org as well, but Ancestry has occasional special days which are free too.

You can never start too early, it's surprising how people's memories become confused with age.

I started with my side but Mrs Clef is now hooked, having used my findmypast account whereas to be honest I've gone as far as I want to go.

I've been in touch with distant relatives I've never heard of, but a chance discovery made me realise that sometimes personal bonds between families can be stronger than family ties.

A lot of the stuff you pay for is available free

This is an excellent resource http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

I use Personal Ancestral File, available free through started with the free download, got the hang of it and paid about a tenner for tne upgraded version and the PAF companion which allows you to print charts, books and trees. It's a steal for what it costs, compared to the commercial alternatives. I've had it for over 5 years and so far no Mormons have come knocking. I highly recommend it