Healthy Habit #25-Organize Your Photos!

Let's face it, having infants, toddlers and kids in general we all know how much clutter photos can cause. Whether on your computer in 5 million different files or more likely simply in you iphoto library, or in hundreds of boxes or more likely the envelopes they were sent to you in laying around the house-they really add up!  I actually had over 1000 photos from Teddy's first 3 days of life!!

Here are some reasons to organize your photos:
Neatly matted and framed photos warm our home and create personalized decor for each room.
Organized photos give us the freedom to find our precious memories quickly.
Organized photos to share with guests and browse through occasionally will give you more joy in your life.
Organized photos will release you of the guilt of not having printed or preserved your precious memories.
and of course, a sense of control that you are not behind or swimming in photos, that it is done!

How to organize your photos:
Decide how you are most comfortable preserving your memories.  For some it may be organized folders in a special folder on your desktop and backed up on a hard drive.  For others it may be good old fashioned photo albums.  Any yet others may decide to create digital photo albums to be printed.  Gather your supplies as needed.

Create a space in your home and a day of the month (or for some of us- day of the week) to work on your albums. Having frames, albums and scrapbook supplies on hand will make it easier to complete your photo projects and help motivate you to work on your photos consistently.

Gather up all the loose photos in your home and organized them chronologically or by event.  You can also organize by theme, such as 'holiday', 'summer'. 'travel'.  While doing this, keep a trash can handy for the photos that aren't good enough to preserve and a "give away" box for duplicates or photos that grandma might like.

Make a point to pull out the one-of-a-kind photos that you know you will cherish forever and enlarge and frame them for a special spot in your home.

This can be overwhelming, but it can also be fun and a chance for you to be creative and have some quiet time for yourself!