What should I do with all these photos?!

A common question we get is, what to do with photos? Photographs can hold lots of memories and often pile up with plans to organize printed or digital photos at another time. At Smart Moves, we recommend starting with the quick sort. This involves quickly, without a lot of reflection, looking through your photos and sorting into 3 piles.

Pile 1 - Frame: Photos you love so much you will frame and hang them on the wall. Then do it as soon as possible.

Pile 2 - Discard: Photos that have unidentified people, are blurry, scenic pictures that aren’t the same as in real life, are photos with heads cut off, are duplicates, etc. These can all be discarded immediately.

Pile 3 - Review: This is the pile for photos that don’t fit in either pile 1 or 2 and need some more time for review.

You may be thinking, great, pile 3 is very large and I’m still overwhelmed. At this point, we have a few suggestions. You can:

• divide pictures into categories so they are easier to organize into photo books

• invite friends and family over to share stories and take their favorite pictures with them

• send old pictures in birthday cards for those in the photo to enjoy

• digitize photos so they take up less room

If you are still feeling like it is too much bring in an expert. Our resources page will take you to Pixologie. They can help organize entire photo estates in a way that will preserve and honor the memories you want to share with future generations.