31 Days Of Organizing & Decluttering: Day 30

We are have one day left of this challenge!  Amazing!  Today we’re stepping away from a room again and going a different route!

Today’s organizing and decluttering challenge is to go through your photographs!  Your photos are so important.  They are memories of what we’ve done, become, and remind us of what we hold dear.

This is a challenge I have had on my mind since we began this challenge and I will be the first to admit, I do NOT want to do it!  Our photos are a mess!  We have totes of photos, photos on the computer, photos on the camera, photos on the cell phones and Ipad.  UGH!

To simplify this challenge, focus on one area.  Mine will be the photos in totes.  The totes take up a lot of space, they aren’t a good place to store them and they seem to be compounding as the kids enter more activities and life has gotten busier!

Here are some tips for organizing and decluttering your photographs:

• Sort first!  I will be doing one tote at a time and sorting them 3 ways: keep, give away, and throw away

• After sorting, throw away the photos you decided to toss that are blurry, etc.
• Now it’s time to sort again!  You can choose how to sort the photos you will be keeping.  You can sort them by child, date, or event.
• As you are going through the photos write on the back or label which child it is, the date if you know it or a small description.

• Now is the time to decide how you will be storing the photos you want to keep.  There are so many choices, photo albums, photo boxes, scrapbooks, display in frames or on a bulletin board or as a collage.

• Start putting away if you have your storage supplies.  If not be sure to add to your shopping list so you can begin to get the photos put away.   You don’t need to buy 10 albums at once, start with one or two.  Finish it and get another one or two.  That way you aren’t storing a bunch of storage supplies and they aren’t being used.  (Or if you are anything like me, you might have an album or two that is new and waiting to be filled with photos.  Start here and then you can buy more!)
• Always develop your film if you use a traditional camera as soon as you’ve finished the roll.  That way you don’t look at the used roll and wonder what is on it!
• For digital photos, be sure to print only the photographs you want.  One advantage of digital photography is you can email the photos to family or friends instead of printing out extra prints for everyone.
• When you save your digital photos on your computer, I’ve found it useful to give them their own folder such as “County Fair 2013.”  Be sure to save a back up so if your computer crashes, you will still have access to them.  This is true with the photos on your cell phone.  If you lose your phone or it quits working, at least you will have all of your pictures!
• Once you get your photos developed label them and put them away!  (I should bold this for myself, because I am terrible at doing it, but I’d really like to get better at it!)

That’s it!  I know I won’t completely finish this project today but a starting with a small amount is better than not doing anything at all!  If you need photo albums or supplies, still work on the beginning of this challenge with sorting and labeling.  That is the time-consuming part of the challenge (unless you are a scrapbooker!  Even then, labeling will help you stay organized for when you do get the photos scrapbooked!)

It takes guts to face your clutter.  I’m so proud of you all for attempting the challenges.  Small steps lead to results!

(Have you missed the previous challenges?  Don’t worry you can jump in right where we are in the series and go back later if you want to catch up or just finish out what we’re working on with us!  I’m so happy that you are joining us in organizing and decluttering your home!)

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