Organizing Photos - Kansas City,MO

I like Tracy K.'s suggestions. However, I'd use one of the photo sites available on the Internet rather than Facebook. I wouldn't want my photos to get "mixed up" with other media. When I went to the site to work on photos I'd like to just have photos facing me. Also I'm not entirely trusting of Facebook or any of those social media sites.

Google photo organizing, printing photos, photo album, photo storage, etc. to find a site that you like.

Well, I have 43 years worth of photos and most are NOT in albums! Yikes! But my husband went to a dollar store and bought me shoe box size clear boxes. With a label maker (or a computer) I made labels for each box. I separated by child and family or vacations, you could use what is best for you or by year(s). It didn't take much time to sort through them--I was surprised how fast it went. They are a lot less intimadating this way. Next step put into albums.

Don't stress. I doubt you are on a time schedule and if you take it piece by piece it will go easily.

I'm the historian in my family and have done the scrap booking thing and slideshows on the computer. This is what I suggest.

Take the prints and put them in a stack in order by either date or event. Choose the best of the best and throw the rest away. YES, throw them away! If you can't then just put them in a sealed box labeled "Old Photos, Not Scanned, Year 1-13," and put it away in a closet and don't worry about them.

Then go buy yourself a cheap scanner (under $100) and scan what you decided were the good ones into your computer into folders, labeled. Put the photos you have on your computer into folders. Tell yourself you will scan 20 a day, 5 days a week. And don't worry about it. it will get done eventually.

When you are all done you can upload the ones you want for an album to snapfish or shutterfly and make yourself a book easily online. Put ALL photos on CD's for safe keeping. I keep mine in safety deposit.

Best of Luck!

i have 5 scrapbooks, and two albums, just for my 7 year old, one scrapbook, one album for my 1 year old.....a scrapbook for my husband,album of my husbands(encompassing baby pics of him, teen pics to current, etc..) and i have one like that of me., then i have family albums of us after the kids (two of them)

i reccomend backing everything up on discs or hard drives...then focusing just on the most important pics

do a baby album (scrapbook)

then a toddler album or scrapbook,

then 5 to 7

7 to 9

9 to 11

11 to 13

6 albums wont be too daunting, organize them into shoeboxes and files, jot down little notes on post its.

hit the walmart/target the ross and hobby lobby ( i reccomend ross)
get yourself 6 to 8 albums or scrapbooks (or mix and match)some double sided tape, and scrapbooking packets, some fun stickers.

you may want to have extra albums ready for pictures you have alot of in a theme, (like baseball team pics or ballet lessons, etc>)

i did one of my daughters first year of school, i just kept all her stuff in a manila folder in the file cabinet, and put it all together in one day.

i think once you get started you will have lots of fun, just dont procrastinate anymore, and dont take up any other taskes till you are close to being done.

set aside a night a week for it

Okay, I would start with the photos on the computer. Sign up for a picture website like Snapfish or Shutterfly and start looking at photo books. The books are super easy to make and you'll have scrapbooks in no time! Figure out how you want to group your albums, like others said chronological is a great way. You can fit a ton of pictures per book and although they only come with 20 pages/book you can add pages in at minimal cost. I've made books with up to 100+ pages. Doing on line books can be time consuming, but not nearly as much as doing it by hand and they look great.

As far as the pictures you have already printed...I would group them by either chrono. or family member. Then I would go and buy fairly cheap photo albums that just hold pictures (not scrapbooks) and just start shoving them in there. That way they are organized and preserved but you don't have to spend a ton of time on them. If you repeat pics in the on line scrapbooks, don't worry about it.

I really think you'll be surprised at how quckly and efficiently you can make on line books. Once you get started you'll get the bug! I know right now Snapfish has a special on books, so go check it out!

I say get your 13 yr old involved. Make it a fun bonding event. Start with what you have digitally. Publish to Facebook so you can aleviate some of that guilt! Then Print Them Out!
Just like painting, it's the preperation that takes the most time and effort.
Gather all your photos and set out several boxes. Start to sort them by categories you want to categorize your albums by. Or oroganize by subject - sports, holidays, birthdays. Or a combo of the 2.
Once your pictures are organized you can quickly grab from this box or that to put together an album quickly.
My mother did annuals. We would buy her a new giant album every year for Christmas. She would put everything from January 1 through New Yrs eve in it. They were all on our shelf in order. Whereas my mother in law did a scrapbook of each of her childrens lives and presented when they turned 21, although you have to really do a lot of editing to get a whole life to fit into 1 album.
You could also take a scrapbook class at a hobby store.

you have already received some great answers and it really all depends on how you want to do things. At this point I would start at this year and work my way back if you were doing your books chronologically. I would also get your family involved. Have a scrapbooking family night. Popcorn, music, and family fun or invite a friend or 2 to bring their scrapbooks and some of the tools to share and have a girlfriends night. I am an avid scrapbooker when I have time. So do not stress. pick out 10 - 20 pictures and start your pages. Keep repeating this and soon you will have a book completed. Happy scrapbooking.

I second the suggestion to start with current events and work backwards. That's the advice the Creative Memories consultants give. I LOVE scrapbooking and have been doing it for about 15 years. When I first started, I was in college and I would develop a roll of film and scrap it right away. Then I got married and we got a digital camera and we had babies... I have stacks and stacks of pictures I haven't done now, too. But I don't have as much time so I just try to keep everything organize and work on the most recent events knowing I'll be able to go back to the others someday.

The other thing I decided to do was minimize the number of scrapbook pages I actually complete. As you know when you have kiddos, you take a million pictures. I decided to do a baby's first year album for each one, and then the rest of the pictures going forward won't be divided out, they'll be in family albums. I'll only choose a few photos from major events to scrapbook, and the rest of the photos I'll put in pocket page albums.

To start, I would suggest getting some cheap pocket pages and put them in a three-ring binder and just put the photos away so they have a home. They won't stay there forever, but at least they'll be organized to a certain extent. The start with the newest digital pictures. Print out one event. Scrap that. Then go back and print out the previous event and scrap that. As you are working, new events will happen. Go forward to the newest event and keep up with those, and go back to older events one at a time as you get the chance. Once you catch up on the digital ones, head to the ones you've filed in the pocket pages and use the same process. You'll get there - try to look at it in small steps and it will be more manageable. Good luck!

I would suggest starting by organizing the pictures you have on your computer first by year and then by theme (family, friends, house, etc). You can then go deeper if you want (children's name and in their folder sort by sports, holidays, etc). If you get the ones online organized, it will be easier to figure out what you want to print out.

The ones you have already printed out, I would sort them either into envelopes, accordian style folder, boxes or something specific for photos.

When you want to print the pictures out, figure out WHERE you want to start. You may want to start in the present and go backwards. I'd suggest donig 1 year (Jan-Dec) at a time. It won't see as overwhelming.

Then you can go through all the pictures you have printed out, go to the computer and figure out what else you want and then print them out then you only have 12 months worth of photos. Not sure if you are a scrapper or just want them in albums, but I suggest keeping the ones you want and trashing the blurry ones. Any that are doubles, see if there is anyone who you can give it to (friends, family, little kid who can use it to learn how to cut, etc).

Good luck!

When overwhelmed with organizing then you're trying to accomplish too much. Set small goals for yourself.
-Grab a stack (small or big) then start the process.
-Either do it by year or activities.
-Also keep a box for the 'I don't know, look it up later'.
-Write useful info on the back or sticky note to the back.
-I find it easier to organize my photos on the computer. The dates can be manually changed to organize accordingly.
-For photo books, I like the ones that have the lines off to the side to take notes.

If everything is already on the computer, my photo book (first months of my sons life and that's all) mimics my computer. Every picture, since digital is ordered by date, is in order. Then I know if I'm missing something. I also like to tag my photos and I do this one month at a time when I feel like sitting at the computer. Doing more than a month is too much.

My professional pictures are in a separate binder type album, ordered by date. Everybody loves it when I pull it out and it was the easiest one to organize because there's not so much (20 professional shots compared to 6,000 photos lol)

Hope you find what works and feel more relaxed. Take use of the summer break and ask your daughter for help sometimes. Great conversation starter.

First of all, photos are NOT something to stress over. If you had a cancer diagnosis, yes, but photos, NO. Your life will not end if you don't upload them.

Second, as another Mama said, choose a photo company. I have used KODAK Gallery for almost ten years, but there are many others. Find one that works well with your needs or computer's operating system.

Third, you have a 13 year old who is probably more into computers than you. Make this his/her summer project and weekend project during the winter. Have s/he pick out the photos that s/he wants printed. Then, when the photos arrive, you can have a family scrapbook or photo book evening to work on it together.

Again, these are just photos. Untie the knots in your stomach, and enjoy the important things in your life.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm in the same boat only with 4 kids!! :)

Don't be obsessed with putting every picture into an album right now. Pick 12 pictures from each year and put them into an album and get the stories told. THEN you can work backwards and put more into albums later. We take so many pictures that you need to only put the BEST ones in. I have been a CM consultant for 15 years and it is more important to get them into an album rather than making everything cute and fancy.

Many of the other suggestion are good by starting with your current and working backwards.

Good luck...

K.,

Can't wait to see the answers you get as I have a similar situation. You're not the only one...

M.

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