Paperhills

Don’t be overwhelmed by stacks and boxes of photos and negatives which have piled up for years.  We all have them!  There are some basic ways to organize yourself so that you can proceed to scrapbook without confusion.

Try some of these methods for getting your photos in order:

Method 1:
Chronologically from babyhood to adult

Method 2:
By event

Method 3:
By individual names

Method 4:
By category

Here are some of the major categories you might want to use for sorting your photos:

Births
Birthdays
Celebrations
Family
Heritage
Holidays
Kids
Military
Parties
Reunions
Recipes
School
Sports
Travel and Vacation
Weddings
Work

Tools for Organizing:
There are many great tools for getting your photos in order.  Photo boxes such as the ones shown below are very useful and can be purchased anywhere.  They stack well too so it doesn’t take up so much of your valuable workspace.  The boxes usually contain dividers, but envelopes labeled with your category also work very well and can be stored alphabetically.  Once you’ve organized your old photos, it’s best to begin sorting your newer photos as you develop them.  This will save time going forward.

Take your time and spend only an hour or so at a session when getting caught up with the task.  Once the biggest job is done (that of taking care of all the old photos), your mind  will be freed for creativity and you can proceed with your scrapbooking!