Your Printed Family Photos Can Look Picture-Perfect. Here’s How.
Your photos tell a story. These organization tips will help them shine.
Photo organizing is one of the best gifts you can give your family. It’s truly a labor of love.
Seriously, though, it takes forever.
In April 2020, I flew home to be with my parents during the pandemic. While I was there, I used my stay as an excuse to run rogue and organize anything I could get my hands on, starting with the family photo cache.
I love looking at old family photos, but it’s annoying to sift through haphazard stacks of photos piled up high on a dusty shelf. It’s much more enjoyable when your photos are well-organized, tell a story, and show a progression. That’s why I began my photo organizing spree by sorting all my parents’ photos by year.
Luckily, most photos had date stamps on the back, but the ones that didn’t were easy enough to figure out based on how old the kids looked in them.
I used sticky notes to keep track of the years and categories and lined up the photos according to the dates on which they were taken so it was easier to differentiate between the time periods and sort them into their correct piles.
Some years had a lot of photos, while others had almost none. If there were a lot of photos from a given year, I would categorize them even further. For example, “Summer 1999” or “Sam’s 6th Birthday, 1995.”
If there were very few photos, like the ones from the earlier years before cameras were a common household item, I would lump multiple years together into a broad category, like “Grandparents before the War” or “Dad as a teenager.”
Once you have everything sorted, that’s where the real fun begins. I purchased organizing boxes for the photos. Personally, I prefer photo boxes to photo albums because I like to hold photos in my hand, feel them, and flip through them one by one.
My favorite photo organizer is the Iris 4" X 6" Photo & Craft Storage Carrier, which is available at lots of different stores (I linked the ones from The Container Store below). It comes in 12- and 16-case boxes.
Iris 12-Case 4" x 6" Photo & Craft Storage Carrier
Iris 16-Case 4" x 6" Photo & Craft Storage Carrier
Note: IRIS also carries a case that holds larger 5x7 photos and 6 cases instead of the usual 12. Be sure not to select the wrong size here (or, if you have some photos that are assorted sizes and larger than the typical 4x6, then go for it!).
Truthfully, these organizers are not very pretty and they are a bit bulky, but I prefer them because of how well-organized they keep photos.
Anyway, after I tucked each category into its own little box, I labeled each box, put everything back on the shelf, and ta-da! We’ve now got hours and hours of future family enjoyment.
This is my favorite photo storage solution, but if this concept doesn’t work for you, just choose a simple “art portfolio” album like this one.
Generally, I dislike photo albums. All the different sizes, designs, and covers make for a very messy-looking shelf. The trick: find one album style that you like and stick with it! Oh, and stay far away from any “sticky page” photo albums. Those ruin your photos and leave you with a sticky mess.
Good luck categorizing, and enjoy the trip down memory lane!
Xx,
Chan
