First Step To Organize Photographs: Gather Loose Photos & Negatives Into Central Location

Today's mission is the first step you'll need to take to organize photographs in your home, and that is to gather loose photos and negatives into a central location in your home.


This mission is designed to be done while we work on the Organize Photos Challenge here on the site, which is part of the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge. That means to get the big picture of the whole process or organizing photos check out that article.

Today we're focused on a smaller task that is critical to success in getting your family's physically printed out photos organized, and it all starts with gathering them from all the various places you've stashed them in your home over the years.

(To be clear, we'll focus on digital photographs later this week in several additional missions. Today, focus on photographs that have already been printed out.)

Why is gathering everything together the first step? It's simple. You cannot even begin to organize something if you don't know where all the parts are, so this first step is vital to making sure when you begin organizing you've got everything ready.

If you just have a few loose photos, and most everything is already in albums or categorized, this may be a simple task for you.

However, on the other hand, you may have boxes or tubs of photos spanning over decades, all thrown together without much organization and sorting, which can make this feel like a daunting project.

Today, just focus on the first step, gathering everything together.

As always, if you can't complete a task in 15 minutes then instead complete the task 15 minutes at a time.

Gather up all of the packets of school photos, or packets of photos you got developed from a vacation years ago and meant to add to albums but didn't, and on and on.

This can also include loose photos from others who've given them to you as gifts. One such category I know I've gotten a lot are photos from others who've taken a picture of my children, and I want to add those shots to an album too.

You've got to get it all gathered into a central location so they're in the right place to start the sorting and organizing process.

The other purpose of this mission is to create a central location that from now on you'll keep all your photos together as you receive them or after getting them developed or printed. That way even if you don't have time to place those photo in albums or scrapbooks, or whatever your preferred organizational method is, right that minute, they'll all be in one place, ready, when you do have time.

Make sure that as you gather up these photos that you're placing them, even for temporary storage, in something photo safe, so they don't get bent or damaged before you can begin the organization process.

You can find out more about the 5 rules of photograph storage here, to make sure the method you choose will not be something you regret later.

Below I've got a photo from a reader who has already done this mission to get you inspired to tackle this preparatory task for yourself, so you can organize photographs and family memories to enjoy for years to come!


Top photo courtesy of martinak15 from Flickr Creative Commons

Are You Ready To Organize Photographs?

I know that organizing photos can feel like a daunting task, especially when you've got perhaps decades or photos to deal with.

But start with just one step, the first one, gathering everything up into one spot so you know what you've got to tackle.

Here's a photo from a reader, Starla, who did just that. She explained that she gathered many of these photos together, into this box, although some of them had already been in there for years.

In Starla's case she decided to digitize these photos, and then get rid of the physical copies. You should only do this if you want, but you don't have to. Instead, as part of the Declutter 365 missions we'll be spending a couple of days sorting and organizing photos like this in whatever way you want, which can include adding them eventually to albums, or at least categorizing and sorting them into collections that you can enjoy more easily.

Want To Do More Decluttering Missions? Get Started With Declutter 365 Today!

Once you declutter one type of item in your home I bet you'll want to declutter some more. After all, decluttering gives you a great reward for even a small investment of time and energy.

The Declutter 365 system is designed to help you declutter, over the course of a year, your entire house, with just 15 minutes of decluttering each day!

Hundreds of thousands of people use this proven system to get rid of their clutter, and bring peace and calm back to their homes.

Declutter 365 works to guide you to clear the clutter without overwhelm, focusing on just one small area at a time, and without making a huge mess in the process, so you see consistent forward progress without all that "messy middle" that makes it even harder to function in your home than before you started.

In addition to building a daily decluttering habit, the Declutter 365 program, along with the accompanying 52 Week Organized Home Challenge, teaches you the skills, habits, routines, and mindsets necessary to maintain the clutter free and organized state of your home from now on, so it'll never be as messy and cluttered as it is right now, ever again.

If you haven't already, make sure to get your copy of this year's Declutter 365 annual calendar here (it's FREE!), find today's date, and do 15 minutes of decluttering on the day's mission. Then, repeat again tomorrow, and again and again. Over the course of the next year, if you do this 15 minutes per day, you'll declutter your whole house!

Get This Sentimental Items Decluttering Checklist + 32 Other Decluttering Checklists For Your Home

Right now you're decluttering sentimental items from your home, and it's one of the hardest categories to work through. Make sure to take your time with these items, while using this checklist to make sure you don't forget about anything.

Get your 1 page sentimental items decluttering checklist, plus 32 other decluttering checklists, to help you declutter your entire home here.

I've done the hard work of breaking down these tasks into smaller more manageable steps for you, so you don't get overwhelmed or worry you're forgetting a task, and you can go at the pace you want, whether that's fast or slow.

In addition, you can tackle these decluttering tasks in whatever order you want when you use these checklists!

In addition, check out my round up of over 40 photo storage and organization products (referral link), that are all archival quality, that can help you with this task, on Amazon.

Related Pages You May Enjoy

Getting Clutter Free 15 Minutes At A Time Hall Of Fame

Getting Rid Of Media & Entertainment Clutter Hall Of Fame

How To Organize Photos The Easy Way: Set Up A Routine

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