If you took a vacation and didn’t snap and photos, did the vacation even happen?
These days, so many of our memories are shaped by the photos we take. And in this age of smartphones, we’re taking more pictures than ever before. However, most of those photos simply remain on our phone’s albums and are rarely looked at and cherished ever again. There’s still a lot of value in printing out physical copies of favorite photos, but you’ll need a good photo organization strategy to control the clutter and preserve those pictures for generations to come.
Photo Organization Ideas to Consider
The first step in the process of photo organization, whether it’s for physical copies or digital versions, is to decide how you want to group photos together. This is a matter of personal preference because there’s no right way or wrong way to do it. For example, you could organize your photos by specific trips, by event, by year, or by the people who are in them.
You’ll likely want to delete similar versions of the same photos that you took and also photos that aren’t meaningful to you to reduce the total number of photos you’re working with.
Physical Copies: What to Do with Old Photos
If you have piles of old photos lying around, it’s time to get them organized so that they are preserved and ready to look at whenever you want to. Start by gathering your supplies, including envelopes, boxes, totes, labels, and markers. Then you can organize photos in photo books, scrapbooks, or frames to put on the wall. It’s always fun to keep photo albums and scrapbooks out in the open so that you and guests can flip through them, so create some space on bookshelves or coffee tables for this purpose.
Another idea is to place photos in boxes with dividers between sections so you can keep them organized without having to take up a lot of space in your home. Make sure to store photos at room temperature (not too hot or cold) and out of direct sunlight so that they will last a long time.
Digital Versions: How to Organize and Store Old Photos
Just because digital versions of photos don’t take up any physical space around your house doesn’t mean they won’t benefit from better organization too. Consider using a cloud service to help store and organize your photos digitally, and take some time to organize them into online albums so they’re not just all lumped up into one place.
Create folders and sub-folders for your old photos and make a plan to upload and back up your new photos to the folders at least once per month so you don’t fall behind.
Get Professional Help with Photo Organization
Implementing these photo organization ideas takes a substantial amount of time and effort, so you might want to delegate these tasks to an organization specialist who will get the job done right. Personal household assistants, like the ones we can pair you with at Household Staffing International, can handle photo organization tasks so you don’t have to deal with them. Personal assistants are incredibly versatile and valuable staff members who can help you take care of important details in your life so that you feel less stressed out and make the most of every beautiful photo you take.
To learn more about how a personal assistant can benefit your life, call us at 212-683-7722 or contact us online.