So if you do a lot of traveling, you probably have boxes of and boxes of memorabilia and photographs. Maybe even some scrapbooking material? Or maybe your memory clutter is primarily digital. You have CD’s, memory cards, and files in several different computers. You say you will get to it someday.
Today I wanted to give you some a plan to deal with all of those photos.
Sort
If you have a closet full of physical pictures, get a few plastic Tupperware containers or photo containers and a trash can. Take out one container from the closet. First, is the picture out of focus, has people squinting, of an event you don’t remember? Would your children know what this was or would they care? Throw them away. Yep, throw them away. Only put your best pictures in piles according to year or event. If you are my age, you have both types of clutter: digital and physical. If you have digital memories, go through one device at a time and label the files.
Preserve
How do you want to preserve your memories? In the short term, maybe buy some photo books you can slip pictures into or a photo box for each year and/or big event. Maybe you want to scan them and get rid of the physical pictures. If you have mainly digital memories, put the folders into back up drives. Copy some of the pictures to thumb drives to give relatives. Make sure your pictures are in more than one place in case a computer or drive crashes.
Create
Now, what do you want to do with those memories? I was into scrapbooking a long time ago, but I no longer have the time or patience to do that. Do you want to create digital photo books to give to people? Do you want to create a slideshow or movie with your photos and videos?
If you have older materials like VCR movies or reel to reel, you may need to take them to professionals to have them made into a digital file. If you are overwhelmed, do you have some relatives that might want to take it on as a project?
A Little at a Time
The secret to getting this done is to take small steps. If you try to do all of this in one day, you will give up. Choose to do it for only thirty minutes to an hour each day. Maybe you could do this while you watch an hour of your favorite binge-worthy show. Every day you get to watch 1 episode (or 2 if it is a 30 minute comedy). Get out a tub and sort. Once the show is over, stop. The next day pick up where you were. You can decide if you want to sort all of your pictures first before you go on to the preserving stage or if you want to tackle one box at a time and complete all of the steps.
Involve Others
Another option is to take a day and invite your family to help you sort and label. My sister and I did this with my mom many years ago. Between the three of us, we were able to remember all of the dates: That is when I was in the play for 3rd grade. Oh, don’t you remember that is the year I broke my arm! Not only will you make quite a bit of progress, but you will have fun while you organize the photos!
Just do it!
Most importantly, do something. Do not leave it for your children to do! Start now.