Organizing Your Photos

If you haven't been keeping up with organizing your photos it can be a daunting task. It might even be too overwhelming to start, but don't let that discourage you. It needs done and putting it off won't help. Don't feel like you have to do it all at one sitting or even in one month. It might be on going project for several months and that's ok as long as it gets done. Don't even think of it as work, think of it as talking a walk down memory lane. This can even be a project for you and your husband in the evenings or even while watching TV.

First you need some storage boxes. I like the cardboard or plastic shoe box style. These are normally $4 at Jo Ann's but you can find them at Target and other places. If you do buy at J's don't forget to use a coupon or watch for a sale. I've gotten mine as low as $2 at J's for plain ones. I used scrapbook paper to decorate them. These boxes are much less intimidating than a photo album and cheaper. If you decide to use albums, I would start with at least a few of these. You can always reuse them later.

Use a sticky note or otherwise label them by year and start sorting. Don't worry about what month of that year it is and if you can't remember what year it is just guess. Don't even worry about scrapping just sort. If you don't have a lot of photos you might want to use one box for 2-3 years. When you see how many photos you have and the boxes start to fill where you can stand up the photos you can use dividers and get them organized a little better with tabbed dividers. If this is a project that takes you a while then be sure to start keeping organized from this moment on. Every time you get pictures printed put them in the right box.

To organize my photos for scrapbooking, I use the Power Sort Mini Box from Creative Memories because it was in my consultant kit back in the day. It came with dividers and it's the perfect size for me. There are other options out there and you can even use the cardstock envelopes your photos come to you in to organize until you find something you like. I used to get doubles to scrap but I was filling photo albums soooo fast! Really, who needs to 5 different pictures of the same thing? So now I get 1 copy unless it's a very important event. If I truly love the photo I get a 5x7 for the scrapbook. When I get my order back I separate what to scrap and what to file in albums.

Then I put the photos in their slots in my Power Sort Mini Box. I do one section for each child, 1 for me and hubby/family and 1 for Christmas because I keep a separate Christmas album. I don't keep them in any particular order in there because I might take pics from different times and places for one page. If a photo sits in the box for a while and I'm just not getting any inspiration, it goes in the back for a mini album to send to Grandma or my aunt out of town. That way I'm not wasting and they get a fun surprise. If I'm going through my stash of stickers and other embellies, if I find the perfect quote for a photo I will store that with the photo. I hate finding the perfect quote after I've scrapped the page! I hope these tips help. If you have more tips, please post them. Remember to have fun with this and don't think of it as a chore. Also remember to get organized from this point forward and work your way back.