I’m going to confess. My grandfather was a professional photographer so we have some real history (not just ours but historical photos also) in our possession. I did a ton of photography over the years.
I’m loathe to throw hard copy photos out (unless really bad–those are gone!) because the technology changes so fast that I’m not sure any of it would be recoverable if I give up that hard copy. I honestly don’t want to depend on the icloud or google drive or any other service to preserve my family history. That can change in a flash. I want a decent hard copy in my hot little hand to transfer to the next best thing. (A flash drive of photos may not save you.)
So yes, we take a ton of photos and then I make hard copies of only the best. I’m very choosy. And I have those “best photos” printed with inks that have longevity (a lot of regular computer inks are very short lasting–photo inks last much longer.)
For any of you who have “stuff to good to give away” try consigning online; for years I used to give away or donate and then one day, about a year ago, I decided to recoup some of my investments! One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!
Chairish is great for home accessories, art & furniture
Poshmark for everyday, good condition clothing
RealReal for designer duds
Mr. and I had a little debate going whether we needed a wall wardrobe system (think Pax) or a dresser of some sort for the bedroom. Because I successfully got rid of a lot of stuff during and after the move, I was able to convince him that we really wanted to simplify things. So we are getting just a large dresser. However, Mr. said that he wants a giant TV screen above the dresser and a viewcam on the roof… to project the view of the city lights that we are unable to see and that apparently can be seen from the roof (according to Mr. who has been on the roof - I have not ).
Sounds nice, BB, and that way you can stay off the roof. ?
I keep reading this thread for inspiration, so thanks, everyone! I’m amazed at the stuff I’ve kept around all these years. If I forgot I had it, I’m not going to miss it.
Love! The idea of seeing the city lights!
Scanner arrived today. H will get all involved so that is good.
I have gone through S’s preschool, kindergarten, and first grade savings. I really did not save much but it is
slow going because I need to read everything twice?
But at least 60% will be gone and maybe more.
Sibs visiting from out of state popped over to see uncle’s widow who is estranged from his children. Yup four more boxes of family photos and memorabilia are now spread all over my living room as we try to figure out how to get this loot to whoever in the family it should go to. Then had dinner last night with another aunt who is down sizing, and left her place with more “treasures” - fortunately small items and kitchen gadgets that we are likely to actually use. But Oh my! I just want this loot out of my house.
DH has been burning more papers from his late mother’s place this week. He’s slowly compressed the mass of boxes in a corner of our dining area and freed up one more chair. We have an elaborate arrangement of chairs in combination with the boxes because our dogs sometimes just need to chew. I’ve been tempted to let them at it.
Went through a couple of boxes of kiddo’s stuff and packed a large bag with things to go to Goodwill and a smaller bag with jeans to give to my friend for her kid to try. I figured that if kiddo lived without that stuff for more than a year, she will not miss it. Also sorted our exercise clothes in anticipation of the arrival of our new dresser from Room and Board (I really dig that store… made in 'murica, real wood stuff!).
Seriously tricked H into scanning the 12 albums page by page. I knew! since it is technology that he would get hooked. I am so thrilled to be taking pictures as I look through S’s preschool through 8th art and kept things. They are so cute! But I am having H look through after I have and then they are gone. Not even asking S again as he doesn’t decide or even answer when I do. He will see all online and that will be best.
I did a major photo project over the summer - I gathered every single photo that was floating around the house, including a box of doubles that my husband would take into the office to show around (he’s been retired for almost 10 years!). I am also the family historian, so I got a bunch of black and white pics of both families.
I worked in categories. The easiest was our life with kids - almost 20 years’ worth. I took everything out of albums, that were falling apart. I had little piles all over one corner of my living room for about two weeks. I got rid of double prints and blurry pics. I did that for each section - I have family photo albums from kids to present day, a photo for all the snapshots from our wedding, and photo albums for each side of the family (sometimes more). Most things were in good order since I tended to put stuff in photo albums anyway, I just had to rearrange some things and throw out the blurry shots that for some reason I saved. I decided to go cheap with the photo albums. I picked three ring photo albums you could add sheets to or replace sheets that tore.
I also did albums of 5x7s and 8x10s, including school and karate/ballet professional photos. These didn’t take nearly as long because there weren’t that many compared to snapshots. I got regular 5x7 photo albums but used sheet protectors and black three-ring binders for the 8x10s.
Yes, I keep negatives lol. They had already been organized by me long ago according to date and general subject matter. IE, the negatives in this particular envelope are from this time frame and including pics from the lake. When we moved to digital I would print them out and have someplace like Walgreens put them on a cd. Now that all pictures are on an iphone, every couple months I still print them out but get them put in a disc and label the disc similarly with an index print so I can see at a glance what is on there.
I never, EVER want to do something of this scope again. But it really needed to be done. Not everyone is as much of a fussbudget about pictures, but pictures are my “thing” so it was worth it in the end.
H painted the mudroom/laundry room this weekend so I was able to clean out some junk from there. I really need to get back into decluttering , as there is always more.
Reading some of your posts, I am thinking about going through the old photo and at least getting rid of the duplicate poses and really bad ones. That’s a start!
I did the photo purge last winter during a weeklong “snowcation” from school. I tossed duplicates, blurry pictures, pictures of the kids’ friends from science fairs that my children weren’t in, etc. I really enjoyed the walk down memory lane and making room in my 4 photo boxes for the few photos I have printed in recent years.
As I started swapping out Halloween decorations for Christmas, I made two bags of garbage and one for donations. There is still so much work to do in the basement.
Today, I emailed an individual (he has an ad on Craigslist) who removes and hauls away “junk” from homes. My goal for this is to have the lumber and wood in the backyard and the too-big-for-me-to-carry items in the basement taken away. Finally. I’m embarassed this has taken me so long, given how much I complain about this leftover stuff of my ex-husband.
You guys have inspired me to attack my photos. I have 50 photo albums with 100 pictures each from the 1980s through whenever I switched to digital (maybe 10 years ago). I am going to first go through and toss the “bad photos” (people I don’t really know, bad vacation shots, etc.) Then I am eyeing some photo storage containers (plastic ones - seem good - hold hundreds of photos) to move them into. My husband will be jumping with joy if I get rid of those photo albums (they take up almost an entire bookcase.)
@kiddie–It is liberating to pare down photo albums.
My suggestion—get some photo albums that hold many more photos in them than just 100. Get some that hold 300 or better yet 500 photos. Or buy some cheap page refills–most albums expand from 100 to 200 photos by just adding refill pages with no extra space. Buy 3 ring type if you find something you like.
While it feels good to get rid of albums you may also find that the only photos you regularly look at are because they are in an album and readily accessible. So fearlessly cull your albums but I’d still put the keepers in an album.
The “almost made it” go in a photo box with date/event on the front. Could be “Beach-2012” “Christmas 2013” etc. all in one box. I tend to go with the chronological approach. As long as it’s written on the front you’ll find it.
They aren’t sorted totally but I’ve never had a problem locating photos even years later.
You can do your own classifications of course but I have albums for big family vacations, wedding, baby pix, old favorites. I leave a spot or two (or more) open for a written note card with notes as to dates, what we were doing etc. making it sort of a scrapbook without all the paper. Leaving extra spots make it easy to add a couple photos later too.
I wouldn’t store them in plastic containers necessarily (just make sure they are photo safe whether plastic or paper).
" (they take up almost an entire bookcase.)" (photos that is…)
The other option is just to toss out books you aren’t ever going to read anyway and leave the photos alone (for now at least). Lot less time consuming and much easier.
The KonMari method would have you start with clothes, then books to clear clutter. Photos would come dead last along with other sentimental items. I think she has a point.
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