by Lynn-Nore Chittom

Created on: September 01, 2009

The idea of organizing a lifetime of photos can be a daunting task. Whether you have a lifetime of photos to sort or just want to shift things from old albums to new, here are ten simple steps to help you organize all your family photos.

The first thing to do is to gather all of your pictures into one place. This includes everything that's stuck in old albums, hiding in random drawers and shoved in shoebox. You should also determine if there are any additional pictures hiding on slides in the attic or buried in your My Pictures folder on your desktop. If possible figure out which years are also on slides and at what point things shifted over to digital. If there is a clear line between photo processing and digital, I recommend you hand the prints separate from the digital photos and consider them two separate but adjoining projects. To gain momentum deal with what is already printed first.

Once you have your prints together you're going to need appropriate containment. Shoeboxes actually work great for sifting through pictures, provided that the picture width does not exceed the width of the shoebox. If you don't have a stash of shoeboxes handy, video/photo boxes are available at most craft stores for about three dollars.

As you begin to gather your pictures, separate out the portrait shots and oversized photos. A manila envelope is useful for storing these larger pictures until a proper style of album is determined. Removing them visually will also help keep them out of the way as you sort snapshots.

Once you have your pictures in proper containment, you'll need to gather some additional supplies for the sorting process. You will need small white envelopes for pictures, a good pen for labeling and a hard writing surface. Unless you are working at a table, you might want to consider a lap desk if you plan to spread things out on the floor.

As you begin to sort, you will want to want to label your boxes chronologically. This means one box for the 70s, one for the 80s, the 90s and so forth. If you have more photos from any one decade than will fit in a single box, be sure to subdivide according to a logical transition such as a family move, the birth of a sibling or some other memorable event.

Rather than tackling the whole project at once, start small. If you have an album or two with photos already sorted, start moving those pictures from the old album into envelopes according to the event. By taking the project bit by bit you will begin to

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