On My Way To Photo Organization

For quite some time I have been so burdened by the fact that I don't have any of my photos printed since 2010. That's 5 years! I barely have a hard copy photo of Laurie or George.

Break a mother's heart.

The beginning of this year I said this is the year of action. I even claimed that word - action - as my word of the year. I knew it was well past time to print my pictures.

I wrote about how I was going to spend 15 minutes a day selecting photos to print. But winter and sickness and so much missed school through me off my game. 

Now I'm back on that horse. I just received  my first order of prints and I LOVED holding the photos in my hand. Warm and fuzzy feelings overfloweth. A picture paints a thousand words.

Also, my children adore looking at photos.

I went through a phase when I wanted to do photo books, the fancy hardcover kind. I especially loved the few I did using My Publisher.

However, I think it takes SO. MUCH. TIME. And I kinda become a perfectionist when doing photo books. 

And then one day I came across Soule Mama's post about how she organizes her photos. I liked the utilitarian way she used giant photo albums. No need to reinvent the wheel. Even more, I loved how she had thin, white borders on her prints. They frame the photo and really make the picture pop.

So I've taken up the same approach. I'm using We R Memory Keepers Classic 12X12 leather album in navy and these We R Memory Keeper sleeves.

I asked my Facebook friends where the best place to print photos was and I got a dozen answers. So, I decided to go with the cheapest and whoever was running the best deal, which happened to be Snapfish last week. I got 200 photos for $0.07 a piece, total about $16.00. I plan to jump around and use a few different companies. Cost is a big factor. 

(Still waiting to write on the labels - can't decide how I want to do that yet.)

Next week is Spring Break so I plan to dedicate some serious time to work on more photos.

One lesson I've already learned is that I must be more selective and truly pick the best of the best. I only need a representation of the pictures I've taken. Otherwise, I will have to rent a storage unit to house these photo albums. Ideally, I'd like to get two years worth of pictures in one album.

.....

What about you? Do you find this task as overwhelming as I do? Are you up to date on printing out your photos? What are your best tips?