Let me just start off by saying that this is not a sponsored post! I have nothing against them but I just wanted you to know up front that I have no personal gain from this post other than to share what I have learned and to brag a little. So, let’s dive in shall we?!
The project that I have FINALLY finished is the task of organizing all of my photographs. If I could add confetti to this announcement I would! I have spent so much time thinking about the black abyss that my Shutterfly account had become that I really felt like I would never be able to get a handle on all of the photos. I finally gave myself a deadline and decided that I would not touch my computer unless it was to log into my Shutterfly account. I have talked to enough of my friends to know that I was not alone in my picture avalanche so I thought I would share how I dove in, organized, and finally have a plan to manage my photos.
The reason I procrastinated so long was because I knew there were probably close to 20,000 photos that had piled up over the years. I started my account around 2004, when we got married, and for the first couple of years I was super organized. I regularly uploaded and ordered photos. I had them all in neat little labeled albums and I immediately put them into photo albums when they arrived. A couple of key things to remember about this phase of life: we didn’t have iPhone pictures yet and we didn’t have kids.
With my first child I still kept up pretty well but soon we added more kids, phone pictures, and slowly my Shutterfly account became something I ignored. When I did upload I did it in mass quantities. I would upload all of my phone pictures to my computer and then dump those along with anything on my hard drive into Shutterfly. I always promised I would come right back to it and sort the pictures but it didn’t happen. Up until this month, when I logged into my account I would see folders that I had lovingly labeled “massive upload Aug 2013-Aug 2015” The mere thought of going through all of those sent shivers down my spine so I would just close it and forget it. In a typical year I had taken 2,000-3,000 photos. #damniPhones
So how did I dig out? Here is the plan I came up with…
Give Yourself A Deadline
Each year my mother-in-law requests a photo calendar so when she put it on her wishlist this year I took the opportunity to force myself into this project. I asked her if I could please have until January 10th. I marked that date on my calendar and, as I said before, I would not allow myself to open my computer unless it was to go through photos. I recommend giving yourself a pretty substantial chunk of time, depending on how many years behind you are. I gave myself about 4 weeks.
Each year my mother-in-law requests a photo calendar so when she put it on her wishlist this year I took the opportunity to force myself into this project. I asked her if I could please have until January 10th. I marked that date on my calendar and, as I said before, I would not allow myself to open my computer unless it was to go through photos. I recommend giving yourself a pretty substantial chunk of time, depending on how many years behind you are. I gave myself about 4 weeks.
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Divide and Conquer
In the early days I would upload pictures and save them in really specific albums like, “Easter 2004.” This was creating way too many folders so I decided to simplify. I made an album for each year and within each year I have 4 subcategories: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall.
I designated these months for each season:
Sort
As I went through uploaded images I could quickly move them to the appropriate folder. I also took the time to delete duplicates or bad pictures. It took extra time but I wanted things truly cleaned up. I also made additional folders for photos of just Taylor and I, friends, and house pictures since I have a ton due to the blog.
On-going deadlines
I don’t want to ever fall so far behind with my photos again so I have set up a plan to stay on top of it all. I set my phone alarm for each Sunday as a reminder to upload my phone pictures to Shutterfly. I have the app so I can quickly upload them directly to my account. I am sure other photo storing sites have something similar. I don’t take as many photos with my actual camera so I am only uploading those the third Sunday of each month. I have these reminders written in my planner as well. When I upload the photos I am immediately dispersing them to their correct album/season. In addition to this I am setting reminders for once a quarter as well. I went through my planner and on the last day every third month I am going to create a photo book for that season. I also really like having actual photos in albums so I am planning to order prints at that time too.
*Pay for a little help
This is certainly not a required part of the plan but I thought it was worth mentioning. Since I like having actual photos in albums that creates an extra step. My photo books are just going to be a select group of photos highlighting that season so I want to have even more within my albums. This is another monotonous task and one that I have gladly handed over to my babysitter. Luckily Shutterfly marks each photo with a date stamp on the back so I just hand her a pile and ask her to put them in in order. I pay her the same hourly rate I would to babysit and she has them done in no time! Totally money well spent in my book but I am sure some of you could even bribe an older child or grandma to help out!
So there you have it…the project that will have me sleeping better at night. I can finally rest easy knowing that I have actual proof of my kids’ childhoods. I also don’t have that pit in my stomach when I take new photos now because I know they aren’t just being added to a disorganized pile!
What are your tips for photos storage and organization? I am sure there are a thousand new apps and sites that make it a breeze- I’d love to hear your favorites!