Do you desperately need to declutter photos? Stop snapping and dumping. Start selecting and saving.
Over the last 20 years personal photographs have increased at a rapid rate with the explosion of camera phones and other digital photography devices. Those thousands upon thousands of digital files, along with the previous generations physical photographs, requires a photo storage intervention. No matter if you have heaps of physical or digital photos, this simple guide will help reduce your hoard to a manageable, and meaningful, collection.
{Blurry}
Start by eliminating blurry, fuzzy, and out of focus photos. Move those on over to the trash ASAP.
{Screenshots}
Next up are screenshots. Screenshots and “reminder” photos can easily end up in your photo stash if you don’t take the time to weed them out. That picture of the lightbulbs you used as a shopping reminder? Delete.
{Unknowns}
Additionally, if you don’t know the people, place, or occasion in a photo, what memory is it preserving? Feel free to check with family and friends before discarding unknowns – but don’t let it slow you down! Make a separate pile or folder for these and let people know they are up for grabs.
{Duplicates}
With digital devices it’s not uncommon to take MANY photos of the same shot. Pick the best and delete the rest. For physical photos keep the one you like most and offer the dupes up to anyone else in the photo.
{Scenery}
Last up is scenery photos. This may be an unpopular opinion, but chances are someone has taken a better photo of the same thing that can easily be found on the web. Don’t waste the space unless there is something truly unique about your shot.
There are always exceptions to the rules, but these are some basic guidelines to declutter photos and get your collection down from thousands to hundreds. Once you’ve decluttered be sure to store photos appropriately! Backup digital photos to an external hard drive. Any remaining physical photos should be stored in an archival box or divided storage case to sort, organize, and label.
For your pinning pleasure:
