7 Tips to Getting Your Photos Organized
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Everyone I know has a box (or two, or three) of photos in their home that are uncategorized and jumbled together. Chances are, they aren’t stored safely which can lead to fading and damage due to mold and mildew. If the photos are worthy of being saved, then they need to be taken care of properly.
Keep these tips in mind as you go through the albums and boxes of photos:
1. Clarify the "why" of why you are doing this. Are you trying to clear off the shelves in the family room? Do you want to create new albums of old photos for you and your family? Do you want to create a digital archive of the photos to easily share?
2. Create envelopes for family members. When you encounter a photo that you want someone else to have, immediately put it in a labeled envelope. When done, mail them to your family members.
3. For older photos, only keep the ones with people that you know. If it's a photo of your mom, but she's with other people that you don't recognize, don't keep the photo. Likewise, you don't have to keep scenic photos of trips that you did not attend. If you know most or all of the people in a photo, keep it for yourself or pass it along to another family member. No need to keep photos that are damaged, blurry, or have bad exposures.
4. Keep photos that you want to have digitized in the albums or boxes that they are currently in. Do your best to label albums and boxes with a year and/or location. Typically, you will want to keep/digitize about 10% of the entire photo collection. The rest you will end up giving or throwing away.
5. Decide which physical photos you want to keep. If you choose to have the photos digitized, then you don't need to keep all of the hard copies of the photos. If you aren't digitizing the photos, then keep only the most meaningful and favorite photos (the 10% mentioned above). For photos that you are saving, I recommend purchasing new archival quality photo albums or photo boxes at https://www.gaylord.com/c/Photo-Print-and-Art-Preservation. You can also purchase archival sleeves to hold any negatives that you choose to save.
6. Schedule time each week in your calendar. If you have a very large collection of photos, movies, slides and negatives, the best way to get through them all is to schedule time in your calendar. I would recommend two to three, two-hour sessions per week. It will take time to go through them all, but you'll feel a sense of accomplishment each time you complete a two-hour session.
7. Professional Photo Organizers. If you don’t have the knowledge or time to scan photos to create a digital archive, consider hiring a professional photo organizer. They will digitize and organize the photos however you decide (by album, by date, by person, by location, etc.). They can scan printed photos, movies, slides, negatives, etc.
Going through photographs is certainly time consuming. Be sure to enjoy the process, relish the memories, and keep only the most special and precious photographs.
More Organizing Ideas
Need even more ideas on how to organize your home? Living. Simplified. is ready to help. Take a look at these blog posts or send us an email at lauren@livingsimplified.net and we can work together to reach your organizing and decluttering goals: