by Kim Green, Owner, Soft Landing Transitions

The Time is Now: Organize Your Photos!

Don’t you love looking at your old photos and reminiscing? I do, too. Right now, many of us have more time at home than we're used to. Consider using that time to tackle a project you've probably been thinking about for years: the many photos you've accumulated over time.

It’s not uncommon for my clients to have boxes of photo albums and random photos in shoe boxes from years gone by, then wonder what to do with them when they downsize. If they are fortunate to have access to a storage unit, it becomes the new holding place for photos. The thought of going through them is overwhelming, so it continues to get put off. Why not take 15 minutes per day to sort the ones that matter most? 

In light of our current “stay at home” environment, now would be a good time to remember people and places with fond memories by starting the process.

Here are a few helpful hints to tackle a photo collection without feeling overwhelmed. 

• Start by sorting them into groups--by family, by friends or by event or occasion. Consider giving some away along with your memory of the moment the photo was captured. Knowing why it is meaningful to you makes it more meaningful to the recipient, too.
• Send a note with a photo or three to a friend, with a “Remember when…?” story. You’ll both smile. 
• Become selective about keeping the photos of vacation scenery. Been there, done that. 
• If you have inherited boxes of photos from a relative and can’t identify the people standing in front of a car you don’t recognize, you may not need to keep it. 
• Most of us keep photos on our phones or store them in the cloud. Consider digitizing your paper photos yourself or hire a service to do it for you. 
• If you have a collection of framed photos in a box or a drawer, remove the photos and place them in a photo album. This seems counter-intuitive to downsizing photo collections, but think of the space photos take up in frames! 

In this season of staying home and staying put, take time out from the news. Open a box of photos. Smile. 

Kim Green is the owner of Soft Landing Transitions, a senior move management company that helps older adults downsize, plan for a move, and resettle into a new home.